diff --git a/kernel/events/core.c b/kernel/events/core.c
index 52951e9e8e1b..80cf996a7f19 100644
--- a/kernel/events/core.c
+++ b/kernel/events/core.c
@@ -95,11 +95,11 @@ static void remote_function(void *data)
  * @info:	the function call argument
  *
  * Calls the function @func when the task is currently running. This might
- * be on the current CPU, which just calls the function directly
+ * be on the current CPU, which just calls the function directly.  This will
+ * retry due to any failures in smp_call_function_single(), such as if the
+ * task_cpu() goes offline concurrently.
  *
- * returns: @func return value, or
- *	    -ESRCH  - when the process isn't running
- *	    -EAGAIN - when the process moved away
+ * returns @func return value or -ESRCH when the process isn't running
  */
 static int
 task_function_call(struct task_struct *p, remote_function_f func, void *info)
@@ -112,11 +112,16 @@ task_function_call(struct task_struct *p, remote_function_f func, void *info)
 	};
 	int ret;
 
-	do {
-		ret = smp_call_function_single(task_cpu(p), remote_function, &data, 1);
-		if (!ret)
-			ret = data.ret;
-	} while (ret == -EAGAIN);
+	for (;;) {
+		ret = smp_call_function_single(task_cpu(p), remote_function,
+					       &data, 1);
+		ret = !ret ? data.ret : -EAGAIN;
+
+		if (ret != -EAGAIN)
+			break;
+
+		cond_resched();
+	}
 
 	return ret;
 }