diff --git a/arch/ia64/kernel/unaligned.c b/arch/ia64/kernel/unaligned.c
index 622772b7fb6c..e7ae6088350a 100644
--- a/arch/ia64/kernel/unaligned.c
+++ b/arch/ia64/kernel/unaligned.c
@@ -1336,8 +1336,11 @@ ia64_handle_unaligned (unsigned long ifa, struct pt_regs *regs)
 			 * Don't call tty_write_message() if we're in the kernel; we might
 			 * be holding locks...
 			 */
-			if (user_mode(regs))
-				tty_write_message(current->signal->tty, buf);
+			if (user_mode(regs)) {
+				struct tty_struct *tty = get_current_tty();
+				tty_write_message(tty, buf);
+				tty_kref_put(tty);
+			}
 			buf[len-1] = '\0';	/* drop '\r' */
 			/* watch for command names containing %s */
 			printk(KERN_WARNING "%s", buf);