diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index 01f94cf52783..dda9b194d225 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -2908,7 +2908,7 @@ static void task_tick_numa(struct rq *rq, struct task_struct *curr)
 	/*
 	 * We don't care about NUMA placement if we don't have memory.
 	 */
-	if (!curr->mm || (curr->flags & PF_EXITING) || work->next != work)
+	if ((curr->flags & (PF_EXITING | PF_KTHREAD)) || work->next != work)
 		return;
 
 	/*