diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index fbdca89c677f4..a59ae2e23dafa 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -3399,10 +3399,16 @@ static void task_numa_work(struct callback_head *work)
 
 		/* Initialise new per-VMA NUMAB state. */
 		if (!vma->numab_state) {
-			vma->numab_state = kzalloc(sizeof(struct vma_numab_state),
-				GFP_KERNEL);
-			if (!vma->numab_state)
+			struct vma_numab_state *ptr;
+
+			ptr = kzalloc(sizeof(*ptr), GFP_KERNEL);
+			if (!ptr)
+				continue;
+
+			if (cmpxchg(&vma->numab_state, NULL, ptr)) {
+				kfree(ptr);
 				continue;
+			}
 
 			vma->numab_state->start_scan_seq = mm->numa_scan_seq;