diff --git a/kernel/exit.c b/kernel/exit.c
index 4436158a6d30bfb3ad7ed968e1257fdc19d76bd4..5b4a5dcce8f8328dd173ead148f4dc6a5fa0d8c4 100644
--- a/kernel/exit.c
+++ b/kernel/exit.c
@@ -734,9 +734,10 @@ static void exit_notify(struct task_struct *tsk, int group_dead)
 		autoreap = true;
 	}
 
-	tsk->exit_state = autoreap ? EXIT_DEAD : EXIT_ZOMBIE;
-	if (tsk->exit_state == EXIT_DEAD)
+	if (autoreap) {
+		tsk->exit_state = EXIT_DEAD;
 		list_add(&tsk->ptrace_entry, &dead);
+	}
 
 	/* mt-exec, de_thread() is waiting for group leader */
 	if (unlikely(tsk->signal->notify_count < 0))
diff --git a/kernel/signal.c b/kernel/signal.c
index 91b789dd6e722ef96f8cf4440eb8f5bbc857ac60..349f5a67f100e8bc33ed4ac44f717de482817776 100644
--- a/kernel/signal.c
+++ b/kernel/signal.c
@@ -1885,6 +1885,7 @@ static void do_notify_pidfd(struct task_struct *task)
 {
 	struct pid *pid;
 
+	WARN_ON(task->exit_state == 0);
 	pid = task_pid(task);
 	wake_up_all(&pid->wait_pidfd);
 }
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/pidfd/pidfd_test.c b/tools/testing/selftests/pidfd/pidfd_test.c
index 7eaa8a3de26277212aa8350bb90e9098c9118741..b632965e60eb0758a1197faedd44f0b3e7d5c829 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/pidfd/pidfd_test.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/pidfd/pidfd_test.c
@@ -339,13 +339,9 @@ static int test_pidfd_send_signal_syscall_support(void)
 
 	ret = sys_pidfd_send_signal(pidfd, 0, NULL, 0);
 	if (ret < 0) {
-		/*
-		 * pidfd_send_signal() will currently return ENOSYS when
-		 * CONFIG_PROC_FS is not set.
-		 */
 		if (errno == ENOSYS)
 			ksft_exit_skip(
-				"%s test: pidfd_send_signal() syscall not supported (Ensure that CONFIG_PROC_FS=y is set)\n",
+				"%s test: pidfd_send_signal() syscall not supported\n",
 				test_name);
 
 		ksft_exit_fail_msg("%s test: Failed to send signal\n",