diff --git a/kernel/sched/rt.c b/kernel/sched/rt.c
index d94c4e319b9f..e7e192f7df47 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/rt.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/rt.c
@@ -1478,6 +1478,13 @@ select_task_rq_rt(struct task_struct *p, int cpu, int sd_flag, int flags,
 	if (test || !rt_task_fits_capacity(p, cpu)) {
 		int target = find_lowest_rq(p);
 
+		/*
+		 * Bail out if we were forcing a migration to find a better
+		 * fitting CPU but our search failed.
+		 */
+		if (!test && target != -1 && !rt_task_fits_capacity(p, target))
+			goto out_unlock;
+
 		/*
 		 * Don't bother moving it if the destination CPU is
 		 * not running a lower priority task.
@@ -1486,6 +1493,8 @@ select_task_rq_rt(struct task_struct *p, int cpu, int sd_flag, int flags,
 		    p->prio < cpu_rq(target)->rt.highest_prio.curr)
 			cpu = target;
 	}
+
+out_unlock:
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 
 out: