diff --git a/kernel/rcu/tasks.h b/kernel/rcu/tasks.h
index 75e7888b3fc9..e2ec548fc0c4 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/tasks.h
+++ b/kernel/rcu/tasks.h
@@ -1129,7 +1129,7 @@ static void check_all_holdout_tasks_trace(struct list_head *hop,
 	cpus_read_unlock();
 
 	if (needreport) {
-		if (firstreport)
+		if (*firstreport)
 			pr_err("INFO: rcu_tasks_trace detected stalls? (Late IPI?)\n");
 		show_stalled_ipi_trace();
 	}