diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index d3427a8f254b..02fc949eb348 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -1780,7 +1780,7 @@ void task_numa_free(struct task_struct *p)
 		list_del(&p->numa_entry);
 		grp->nr_tasks--;
 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&grp->lock, flags);
-		rcu_assign_pointer(p->numa_group, NULL);
+		RCU_INIT_POINTER(p->numa_group, NULL);
 		put_numa_group(grp);
 	}