diff --git a/drivers/usb/core/devices.c b/drivers/usb/core/devices.c
index a47c30b2d7645cfc1cdde964a31753596961c5e1..aefc7987120d37bfa4d67c11bfb37f84b5dc18bc 100644
--- a/drivers/usb/core/devices.c
+++ b/drivers/usb/core/devices.c
@@ -604,10 +604,6 @@ static unsigned int usb_device_poll(struct file *file, struct poll_table_struct
 	lock_kernel();
 	if (!st) {
 		st = kmalloc(sizeof(struct usb_device_status), GFP_KERNEL);
-		if (!st) {
-			unlock_kernel();
-			return POLLIN;
-		}
 
 		/* we may have dropped BKL - need to check for having lost the race */
 		if (file->private_data) {
@@ -615,6 +611,11 @@ static unsigned int usb_device_poll(struct file *file, struct poll_table_struct
 			st = file->private_data;
 			goto lost_race;
 		}
+		/* we haven't lost - check for allocation failure now */
+		if (!st) {
+			unlock_kernel();
+			return POLLIN;
+		}
 
 		/*
 		 * need to prevent the module from being unloaded, since