diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index a34395bd708a..67bec6f1cb7a 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -2376,21 +2376,12 @@ static __latent_entropy struct task_struct *copy_process(
 	 * if the fd table isn't shared).
 	 */
 	if (clone_flags & CLONE_PIDFD) {
-		retval = get_unused_fd_flags(O_RDWR | O_CLOEXEC);
+		/* Note that no task has been attached to @pid yet. */
+		retval = __pidfd_prepare(pid, O_RDWR | O_CLOEXEC, &pidfile);
 		if (retval < 0)
 			goto bad_fork_free_pid;
-
 		pidfd = retval;
 
-		pidfile = anon_inode_getfile("[pidfd]", &pidfd_fops, pid,
-					      O_RDWR | O_CLOEXEC);
-		if (IS_ERR(pidfile)) {
-			put_unused_fd(pidfd);
-			retval = PTR_ERR(pidfile);
-			goto bad_fork_free_pid;
-		}
-		get_pid(pid);	/* held by pidfile now */
-
 		retval = put_user(pidfd, args->pidfd);
 		if (retval)
 			goto bad_fork_put_pidfd;