diff --git a/kernel/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup.c
index 7cb9c0847445..0e2c401ed7b9 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup.c
@@ -4185,12 +4185,14 @@ static int create_css(struct cgroup *cgrp, struct cgroup_subsys *ss)
 	if (IS_ERR(css))
 		return PTR_ERR(css);
 
+	init_css(css, ss, cgrp);
+	cgroup_get(cgrp);
+	css_get(css->parent);
+
 	err = percpu_ref_init(&css->refcnt, css_release);
 	if (err)
 		goto err_free_css;
 
-	init_css(css, ss, cgrp);
-
 	err = cgroup_populate_dir(cgrp, 1 << ss->id);
 	if (err)
 		goto err_free_percpu_ref;
@@ -4199,9 +4201,6 @@ static int create_css(struct cgroup *cgrp, struct cgroup_subsys *ss)
 	if (err)
 		goto err_clear_dir;
 
-	cgroup_get(cgrp);
-	css_get(css->parent);
-
 	if (ss->broken_hierarchy && !ss->warned_broken_hierarchy &&
 	    parent->parent) {
 		pr_warn("%s (%d) created nested cgroup for controller \"%s\" which has incomplete hierarchy support. Nested cgroups may change behavior in the future.\n",
@@ -4218,7 +4217,7 @@ static int create_css(struct cgroup *cgrp, struct cgroup_subsys *ss)
 err_free_percpu_ref:
 	percpu_ref_cancel_init(&css->refcnt);
 err_free_css:
-	ss->css_free(css);
+	call_rcu(&css->rcu_head, css_free_rcu_fn);
 	return err;
 }