diff --git a/kernel/perf_event.c b/kernel/perf_event.c
index 2afb305944af4b6ac91442a64156b366d6aec59f..4deefaace90e962315a45b875d7700ca08ef6b8f 100644
--- a/kernel/perf_event.c
+++ b/kernel/perf_event.c
@@ -3374,15 +3374,10 @@ static void perf_event_comm_ctx(struct perf_event_context *ctx,
 {
 	struct perf_event *event;
 
-	if (system_state != SYSTEM_RUNNING || list_empty(&ctx->event_list))
-		return;
-
-	rcu_read_lock();
 	list_for_each_entry_rcu(event, &ctx->event_list, event_entry) {
 		if (perf_event_comm_match(event))
 			perf_event_comm_output(event, comm_event);
 	}
-	rcu_read_unlock();
 }
 
 static void perf_event_comm_event(struct perf_comm_event *comm_event)
@@ -3401,11 +3396,11 @@ static void perf_event_comm_event(struct perf_comm_event *comm_event)
 
 	comm_event->event_id.header.size = sizeof(comm_event->event_id) + size;
 
+	rcu_read_lock();
 	cpuctx = &get_cpu_var(perf_cpu_context);
 	perf_event_comm_ctx(&cpuctx->ctx, comm_event);
 	put_cpu_var(perf_cpu_context);
 
-	rcu_read_lock();
 	/*
 	 * doesn't really matter which of the child contexts the
 	 * events ends up in.