diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index 623259fc794d034f7b4ab9144e2a61a7233381b6..997ac1d584f76b0e42551975bdae960e61c0807e 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -315,6 +315,9 @@ static void account_kernel_stack(struct task_struct *tsk, int account)
 
 static void release_task_stack(struct task_struct *tsk)
 {
+	if (WARN_ON(tsk->state != TASK_DEAD))
+		return;  /* Better to leak the stack than to free prematurely */
+
 	account_kernel_stack(tsk, -1);
 	arch_release_thread_stack(tsk->stack);
 	free_thread_stack(tsk);
@@ -1862,6 +1865,7 @@ bad_fork_cleanup_count:
 	atomic_dec(&p->cred->user->processes);
 	exit_creds(p);
 bad_fork_free:
+	p->state = TASK_DEAD;
 	put_task_stack(p);
 	free_task(p);
 fork_out: