diff --git a/lib/rhashtable.c b/lib/rhashtable.c
index 811d51b7cb86..6c4f5c8e9baa 100644
--- a/lib/rhashtable.c
+++ b/lib/rhashtable.c
@@ -131,9 +131,11 @@ static union nested_table *nested_table_alloc(struct rhashtable *ht,
 			INIT_RHT_NULLS_HEAD(ntbl[i].bucket);
 	}
 
-	rcu_assign_pointer(*prev, ntbl);
-
-	return ntbl;
+	if (cmpxchg(prev, NULL, ntbl) == NULL)
+		return ntbl;
+	/* Raced with another thread. */
+	kfree(ntbl);
+	return rcu_dereference(*prev);
 }
 
 static struct bucket_table *nested_bucket_table_alloc(struct rhashtable *ht,