diff --git a/kernel/pid.c b/kernel/pid.c
index ebe5e80b10f8..9b9a26698144 100644
--- a/kernel/pid.c
+++ b/kernel/pid.c
@@ -273,6 +273,11 @@ void free_pid(struct pid *pid)
 			 */
 			wake_up_process(ns->child_reaper);
 			break;
+		case PIDNS_HASH_ADDING:
+			/* Handle a fork failure of the first process */
+			WARN_ON(ns->child_reaper);
+			ns->nr_hashed = 0;
+			/* fall through */
 		case 0:
 			schedule_work(&ns->proc_work);
 			break;