diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/segment.c b/fs/nilfs2/segment.c
index 8350c2eaee75af02b38c837f123e520a75ef2cc6..977e0271bd4c050b7167654ed8ad7228c054aa52 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/segment.c
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/segment.c
@@ -2791,10 +2791,9 @@ int nilfs_attach_log_writer(struct super_block *sb, struct nilfs_root *root)
 	inode_attach_wb(nilfs->ns_bdev->bd_inode, NULL);
 
 	err = nilfs_segctor_start_thread(nilfs->ns_writer);
-	if (err) {
-		kfree(nilfs->ns_writer);
-		nilfs->ns_writer = NULL;
-	}
+	if (unlikely(err))
+		nilfs_detach_log_writer(sb);
+
 	return err;
 }