diff --git a/kernel/posix-timers.c b/kernel/posix-timers.c
index 6923ad8a5983dc8ddc8772d8461e1f98fa28e183..7a15afb73ed0352d9ee31f6d03334255c716e5a9 100644
--- a/kernel/posix-timers.c
+++ b/kernel/posix-timers.c
@@ -547,9 +547,9 @@ sys_timer_create(const clockid_t which_clock,
 				new_timer->it_process = process;
 				list_add(&new_timer->list,
 					 &process->signal->posix_timers);
-				spin_unlock_irqrestore(&process->sighand->siglock, flags);
 				if (new_timer->it_sigev_notify == (SIGEV_SIGNAL|SIGEV_THREAD_ID))
 					get_task_struct(process);
+				spin_unlock_irqrestore(&process->sighand->siglock, flags);
 			} else {
 				spin_unlock_irqrestore(&process->sighand->siglock, flags);
 				process = NULL;