diff --git a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
index 8ad2c267ff47..f8386a066e0e 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
@@ -4934,6 +4934,9 @@ static int cgroup_may_write(const struct cgroup *cgrp, struct super_block *sb)
 
 	lockdep_assert_held(&cgroup_mutex);
 
+	if (!cgrp->procs_file.kn)
+		return -ENODEV;
+
 	inode = kernfs_get_inode(sb, cgrp->procs_file.kn);
 	if (!inode)
 		return -ENOMEM;