diff --git a/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c b/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c
index 288a423c1b27..8f546f59a3fd 100644
--- a/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c
+++ b/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-etm-perf.c
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ static void *etm_setup_aux(int event_cpu, void **pages,
 	event_data = alloc_event_data(event_cpu);
 	if (!event_data)
 		return NULL;
+	INIT_WORK(&event_data->work, free_event_data);
 
 	/*
 	 * In theory nothing prevent tracers in a trace session from being
@@ -217,8 +218,6 @@ static void *etm_setup_aux(int event_cpu, void **pages,
 	if (!sink)
 		goto err;
 
-	INIT_WORK(&event_data->work, free_event_data);
-
 	mask = &event_data->mask;
 
 	/* Setup the path for each CPU in a trace session */