diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/setup.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/setup.h
index 703ddf752516..709f4e739ae8 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/setup.h
+++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/setup.h
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ extern void ppc_printk_progress(char *s, unsigned short hex);
 
 extern unsigned int rtas_data;
 extern unsigned long long memory_limit;
+extern bool init_mem_is_free;
 extern unsigned long klimit;
 extern void *zalloc_maybe_bootmem(size_t size, gfp_t mask);
 
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/lib/code-patching.c b/arch/powerpc/lib/code-patching.c
index 753d591f1b52..c77c486fbf24 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/lib/code-patching.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/lib/code-patching.c
@@ -14,12 +14,20 @@
 #include <asm/page.h>
 #include <asm/code-patching.h>
 #include <asm/uaccess.h>
+#include <asm/setup.h>
+#include <asm/sections.h>
 
 
 int patch_instruction(unsigned int *addr, unsigned int instr)
 {
 	int err;
 
+	/* Make sure we aren't patching a freed init section */
+	if (init_mem_is_free && init_section_contains(addr, 4)) {
+		pr_debug("Skipping init section patching addr: 0x%px\n", addr);
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	__put_user_size(instr, addr, 4, err);
 	if (err)
 		return err;
diff --git a/arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c b/arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c
index 5f844337de21..1e93dbc88e80 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@
 #endif
 
 unsigned long long memory_limit;
+bool init_mem_is_free;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_HIGHMEM
 pte_t *kmap_pte;
@@ -396,6 +397,7 @@ void __init mem_init(void)
 void free_initmem(void)
 {
 	ppc_md.progress = ppc_printk_progress;
+	init_mem_is_free = true;
 	free_initmem_default(POISON_FREE_INITMEM);
 }