diff --git a/include/linux/bpfilter.h b/include/linux/bpfilter.h
index ec9972d822e0..9b114c718a76 100644
--- a/include/linux/bpfilter.h
+++ b/include/linux/bpfilter.h
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ int bpfilter_ip_set_sockopt(struct sock *sk, int optname, char __user *optval,
 			    unsigned int optlen);
 int bpfilter_ip_get_sockopt(struct sock *sk, int optname, char __user *optval,
 			    int __user *optlen);
+void bpfilter_umh_cleanup(struct umd_info *info);
+
 struct bpfilter_umh_ops {
 	struct umd_info info;
 	/* since ip_getsockopt() can run in parallel, serialize access to umh */
@@ -18,7 +20,6 @@ struct bpfilter_umh_ops {
 		       char __user *optval,
 		       unsigned int optlen, bool is_set);
 	int (*start)(void);
-	bool stop;
 };
 extern struct bpfilter_umh_ops bpfilter_ops;
 #endif
diff --git a/net/bpfilter/bpfilter_kern.c b/net/bpfilter/bpfilter_kern.c
index 08ea77c2b137..9616fb7defeb 100644
--- a/net/bpfilter/bpfilter_kern.c
+++ b/net/bpfilter/bpfilter_kern.c
@@ -18,10 +18,11 @@ static void shutdown_umh(void)
 	struct umd_info *info = &bpfilter_ops.info;
 	struct pid *tgid = info->tgid;
 
-	if (bpfilter_ops.stop)
-		return;
-
-	kill_pid(tgid, SIGKILL, 1);
+	if (tgid) {
+		kill_pid(tgid, SIGKILL, 1);
+		wait_event(tgid->wait_pidfd, thread_group_exited(tgid));
+		bpfilter_umh_cleanup(info);
+	}
 }
 
 static void __stop_umh(void)
@@ -77,7 +78,6 @@ static int start_umh(void)
 	err = fork_usermode_driver(&bpfilter_ops.info);
 	if (err)
 		return err;
-	bpfilter_ops.stop = false;
 	pr_info("Loaded bpfilter_umh pid %d\n", pid_nr(bpfilter_ops.info.tgid));
 
 	/* health check that usermode process started correctly */
@@ -100,16 +100,11 @@ static int __init load_umh(void)
 		return err;
 
 	mutex_lock(&bpfilter_ops.lock);
-	if (!bpfilter_ops.stop) {
-		err = -EFAULT;
-		goto out;
-	}
 	err = start_umh();
 	if (!err && IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_INET)) {
 		bpfilter_ops.sockopt = &__bpfilter_process_sockopt;
 		bpfilter_ops.start = &start_umh;
 	}
-out:
 	mutex_unlock(&bpfilter_ops.lock);
 	if (err)
 		umd_unload_blob(&bpfilter_ops.info);
diff --git a/net/ipv4/bpfilter/sockopt.c b/net/ipv4/bpfilter/sockopt.c
index 56cbc43145f6..9063c6767d34 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/bpfilter/sockopt.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/bpfilter/sockopt.c
@@ -12,16 +12,14 @@
 struct bpfilter_umh_ops bpfilter_ops;
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(bpfilter_ops);
 
-static void bpfilter_umh_cleanup(struct umd_info *info)
+void bpfilter_umh_cleanup(struct umd_info *info)
 {
-	mutex_lock(&bpfilter_ops.lock);
-	bpfilter_ops.stop = true;
 	fput(info->pipe_to_umh);
 	fput(info->pipe_from_umh);
 	put_pid(info->tgid);
 	info->tgid = NULL;
-	mutex_unlock(&bpfilter_ops.lock);
 }
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(bpfilter_umh_cleanup);
 
 static int bpfilter_mbox_request(struct sock *sk, int optname,
 				 char __user *optval,
@@ -39,7 +37,11 @@ static int bpfilter_mbox_request(struct sock *sk, int optname,
 			goto out;
 		}
 	}
-	if (bpfilter_ops.stop) {
+	if (bpfilter_ops.info.tgid &&
+	    thread_group_exited(bpfilter_ops.info.tgid))
+		bpfilter_umh_cleanup(&bpfilter_ops.info);
+
+	if (!bpfilter_ops.info.tgid) {
 		err = bpfilter_ops.start();
 		if (err)
 			goto out;
@@ -70,9 +72,8 @@ int bpfilter_ip_get_sockopt(struct sock *sk, int optname, char __user *optval,
 static int __init bpfilter_sockopt_init(void)
 {
 	mutex_init(&bpfilter_ops.lock);
-	bpfilter_ops.stop = true;
+	bpfilter_ops.info.tgid = NULL;
 	bpfilter_ops.info.driver_name = "bpfilter_umh";
-	bpfilter_ops.info.cleanup = &bpfilter_umh_cleanup;
 
 	return 0;
 }