diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 117ea5fde56824f86839339cd968c380509ff6cf..f30f09cb08e831bf0f7b50d09deae22e1c0c064d 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -5382,6 +5382,8 @@ mdk_thread_t *md_register_thread(void (*run) (mddev_t *), mddev_t *mddev,
 
 void md_unregister_thread(mdk_thread_t *thread)
 {
+	if (!thread)
+		return;
 	dprintk("interrupting MD-thread pid %d\n", task_pid_nr(thread->tsk));
 
 	kthread_stop(thread->tsk);
diff --git a/drivers/md/raid5.c b/drivers/md/raid5.c
index d019a85547b453d0d1802f65ce9f1483fd7faaca..81789fa7a023368d83518ea6f80ffed570c83fbd 100644
--- a/drivers/md/raid5.c
+++ b/drivers/md/raid5.c
@@ -4463,8 +4463,7 @@ static int run(mddev_t *mddev)
 
 	return 0;
 abort:
-	if (mddev->thread)
-		md_unregister_thread(mddev->thread);
+	md_unregister_thread(mddev->thread);
 	mddev->thread = NULL;
 	if (conf) {
 		shrink_stripes(conf);