diff --git a/kernel/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup.c
index 435aa686567b..855313d01e85 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup.c
@@ -623,6 +623,7 @@ static void cgroup_update_populated(struct cgroup *cgrp, bool populated)
 		if (!trigger)
 			break;
 
+		check_for_release(cgrp);
 		cgroup_file_notify(&cgrp->events_file);
 
 		cgrp = cgroup_parent(cgrp);
@@ -686,15 +687,8 @@ static void put_css_set_locked(struct css_set *cset)
 	css_set_count--;
 
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(link, tmp_link, &cset->cgrp_links, cgrp_link) {
-		struct cgroup *cgrp = link->cgrp;
-
 		list_del(&link->cset_link);
 		list_del(&link->cgrp_link);
-
-		/* @cgrp can't go away while we're holding css_set_rwsem */
-		if (list_empty(&cgrp->cset_links))
-			check_for_release(cgrp);
-
 		kfree(link);
 	}