diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index d681f8f10d2d..b7cdea10239c 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -1553,6 +1553,18 @@ static __latent_entropy struct task_struct *copy_process(
 	if (!p)
 		goto fork_out;
 
+	/*
+	 * This _must_ happen before we call free_task(), i.e. before we jump
+	 * to any of the bad_fork_* labels. This is to avoid freeing
+	 * p->set_child_tid which is (ab)used as a kthread's data pointer for
+	 * kernel threads (PF_KTHREAD).
+	 */
+	p->set_child_tid = (clone_flags & CLONE_CHILD_SETTID) ? child_tidptr : NULL;
+	/*
+	 * Clear TID on mm_release()?
+	 */
+	p->clear_child_tid = (clone_flags & CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID) ? child_tidptr : NULL;
+
 	ftrace_graph_init_task(p);
 
 	rt_mutex_init_task(p);
@@ -1716,11 +1728,6 @@ static __latent_entropy struct task_struct *copy_process(
 		}
 	}
 
-	p->set_child_tid = (clone_flags & CLONE_CHILD_SETTID) ? child_tidptr : NULL;
-	/*
-	 * Clear TID on mm_release()?
-	 */
-	p->clear_child_tid = (clone_flags & CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID) ? child_tidptr : NULL;
 #ifdef CONFIG_BLOCK
 	p->plug = NULL;
 #endif