diff --git a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
index 30c9c2503ccf..e9a62de3faf9 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
@@ -5894,7 +5894,7 @@ static int cgroup_destroy_locked(struct cgroup *cgrp)
 		parent->nr_threaded_children--;
 
 	spin_lock_irq(&css_set_lock);
-	for (tcgrp = cgroup_parent(cgrp); tcgrp; tcgrp = cgroup_parent(tcgrp)) {
+	for (tcgrp = parent; tcgrp; tcgrp = cgroup_parent(tcgrp)) {
 		tcgrp->nr_descendants--;
 		tcgrp->nr_dying_descendants++;
 		/*