diff --git a/arch/um/kernel/irq.c b/arch/um/kernel/irq.c
index d532377f5808..efde1f16c603 100644
--- a/arch/um/kernel/irq.c
+++ b/arch/um/kernel/irq.c
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ int deactivate_all_fds(void)
 		);
 		to_free = to_free->next;
 	}
-	garbage_collect_irq_entries();
+	/* don't garbage collect - we can no longer call kfree() here */
 	os_close_epoll_fd();
 	return 0;
 }