diff --git a/kernel/kthread.c b/kernel/kthread.c
index 1ef8f3a5b072..4e6d85b63201 100644
--- a/kernel/kthread.c
+++ b/kernel/kthread.c
@@ -311,8 +311,14 @@ struct task_struct *__kthread_create_on_node(int (*threadfn)(void *data),
 	task = create->result;
 	if (!IS_ERR(task)) {
 		static const struct sched_param param = { .sched_priority = 0 };
+		char name[TASK_COMM_LEN];
 
-		vsnprintf(task->comm, sizeof(task->comm), namefmt, args);
+		/*
+		 * task is already visible to other tasks, so updating
+		 * COMM must be protected.
+		 */
+		vsnprintf(name, sizeof(name), namefmt, args);
+		set_task_comm(task, name);
 		/*
 		 * root may have changed our (kthreadd's) priority or CPU mask.
 		 * The kernel thread should not inherit these properties.