diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index 27f6a67f692e3..7dc86b50f925e 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -1265,9 +1265,6 @@ static struct task_struct *copy_process(unsigned long clone_flags,
 
 	posix_cpu_timers_init(p);
 
-	do_posix_clock_monotonic_gettime(&p->start_time);
-	p->real_start_time = p->start_time;
-	monotonic_to_bootbased(&p->real_start_time);
 	p->io_context = NULL;
 	p->audit_context = NULL;
 	if (clone_flags & CLONE_THREAD)
@@ -1422,6 +1419,18 @@ static struct task_struct *copy_process(unsigned long clone_flags,
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&p->thread_group);
 	p->task_works = NULL;
 
+	/*
+	 * From this point on we must avoid any synchronous user-space
+	 * communication until we take the tasklist-lock. In particular, we do
+	 * not want user-space to be able to predict the process start-time by
+	 * stalling fork(2) after we recorded the start_time but before it is
+	 * visible to the system.
+	 */
+
+	do_posix_clock_monotonic_gettime(&p->start_time);
+	p->real_start_time = p->start_time;
+	monotonic_to_bootbased(&p->real_start_time);
+
 	/*
 	 * Make it visible to the rest of the system, but dont wake it up yet.
 	 * Need tasklist lock for parent etc handling!