diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/armv8_deprecated.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/armv8_deprecated.c
index fb0e7c7b2e20..9ca9892a6e39 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/armv8_deprecated.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/armv8_deprecated.c
@@ -209,9 +209,10 @@ static int emulation_proc_handler(struct ctl_table *table, int write,
 {
 	int ret = 0;
 	struct insn_emulation *insn = container_of(table->data, struct insn_emulation, current_mode);
-	enum insn_emulation_mode prev_mode = insn->current_mode;
+	enum insn_emulation_mode prev_mode;
 
 	mutex_lock(&insn_emulation_mutex);
+	prev_mode = insn->current_mode;
 	ret = proc_dointvec_minmax(table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos);
 
 	if (ret || !write || prev_mode == insn->current_mode)