diff --git a/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_conntrack_core.c b/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_conntrack_core.c
index 5c3f16eae2d8..dace93eacc5c 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_conntrack_core.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_conntrack_core.c
@@ -316,6 +316,7 @@ destroy_conntrack(struct nf_conntrack *nfct)
 	IP_NF_ASSERT(atomic_read(&nfct->use) == 0);
 	IP_NF_ASSERT(!timer_pending(&ct->timeout));
 
+	ip_conntrack_event(IPCT_DESTROY, ct);
 	set_bit(IPS_DYING_BIT, &ct->status);
 
 	/* To make sure we don't get any weird locking issues here:
@@ -355,7 +356,6 @@ static void death_by_timeout(unsigned long ul_conntrack)
 {
 	struct ip_conntrack *ct = (void *)ul_conntrack;
 
-	ip_conntrack_event(IPCT_DESTROY, ct);
 	write_lock_bh(&ip_conntrack_lock);
 	/* Inside lock so preempt is disabled on module removal path.
 	 * Otherwise we can get spurious warnings. */