diff --git a/kernel/kprobes.c b/kernel/kprobes.c
index 95dd7212e610..29f5b65bee29 100644
--- a/kernel/kprobes.c
+++ b/kernel/kprobes.c
@@ -1077,6 +1077,7 @@ void __kprobes kprobe_flush_task(struct task_struct *tk)
 		/* Early boot.  kretprobe_table_locks not yet initialized. */
 		return;
 
+	INIT_HLIST_HEAD(&empty_rp);
 	hash = hash_ptr(tk, KPROBE_HASH_BITS);
 	head = &kretprobe_inst_table[hash];
 	kretprobe_table_lock(hash, &flags);
@@ -1085,7 +1086,6 @@ void __kprobes kprobe_flush_task(struct task_struct *tk)
 			recycle_rp_inst(ri, &empty_rp);
 	}
 	kretprobe_table_unlock(hash, &flags);
-	INIT_HLIST_HEAD(&empty_rp);
 	hlist_for_each_entry_safe(ri, node, tmp, &empty_rp, hlist) {
 		hlist_del(&ri->hlist);
 		kfree(ri);