diff --git a/kernel/audit.c b/kernel/audit.c
index d779326e53c0..5b34d3114af4 100644
--- a/kernel/audit.c
+++ b/kernel/audit.c
@@ -85,13 +85,13 @@ static int	audit_initialized;
 #define AUDIT_OFF	0
 #define AUDIT_ON	1
 #define AUDIT_LOCKED	2
-u32		audit_enabled;
-u32		audit_ever_enabled;
+u32		audit_enabled = AUDIT_OFF;
+u32		audit_ever_enabled = !!AUDIT_OFF;
 
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(audit_enabled);
 
 /* Default state when kernel boots without any parameters. */
-static u32	audit_default;
+static u32	audit_default = AUDIT_OFF;
 
 /* If auditing cannot proceed, audit_failure selects what happens. */
 static u32	audit_failure = AUDIT_FAIL_PRINTK;
@@ -1552,8 +1552,6 @@ static int __init audit_init(void)
 	register_pernet_subsys(&audit_net_ops);
 
 	audit_initialized = AUDIT_INITIALIZED;
-	audit_enabled = audit_default;
-	audit_ever_enabled |= !!audit_default;
 
 	kauditd_task = kthread_run(kauditd_thread, NULL, "kauditd");
 	if (IS_ERR(kauditd_task)) {
@@ -1575,6 +1573,8 @@ static int __init audit_enable(char *str)
 	audit_default = !!simple_strtol(str, NULL, 0);
 	if (!audit_default)
 		audit_initialized = AUDIT_DISABLED;
+	audit_enabled = audit_default;
+	audit_ever_enabled = !!audit_enabled;
 
 	pr_info("%s\n", audit_default ?
 		"enabled (after initialization)" : "disabled (until reboot)");