diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/pageattr.c b/arch/x86/mm/pageattr.c
index 26c93c6e04a015bb199a0ba6a55eef32e9d02f24..2bc6ea153f763793ddda06af489adcc3656b5249 100644
--- a/arch/x86/mm/pageattr.c
+++ b/arch/x86/mm/pageattr.c
@@ -1082,6 +1082,8 @@ static int populate_pgd(struct cpa_data *cpa, unsigned long addr)
 		pud = (pud_t *)get_zeroed_page(GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_NOTRACK);
 		if (!pud)
 			return -1;
+
+		set_pgd(pgd_entry, __pgd(__pa(pud) | _KERNPG_TABLE));
 	}
 
 	pgprot_val(pgprot) &= ~pgprot_val(cpa->mask_clr);
@@ -1089,16 +1091,11 @@ static int populate_pgd(struct cpa_data *cpa, unsigned long addr)
 
 	ret = populate_pud(cpa, addr, pgd_entry, pgprot);
 	if (ret < 0) {
-		if (pud)
-			free_page((unsigned long)pud);
 		unmap_pud_range(pgd_entry, addr,
 				addr + (cpa->numpages << PAGE_SHIFT));
 		return ret;
 	}
 
-	if (pud)
-		set_pgd(pgd_entry, __pgd(__pa(pud) | _KERNPG_TABLE));
-
 	cpa->numpages = ret;
 	return 0;
 }