diff --git a/drivers/char/random.c b/drivers/char/random.c
index 340ad21491e28..08947733b555b 100644
--- a/drivers/char/random.c
+++ b/drivers/char/random.c
@@ -853,8 +853,8 @@ static void do_numa_crng_init(struct work_struct *work)
 		crng_initialize_secondary(crng);
 		pool[i] = crng;
 	}
-	mb();
-	if (cmpxchg(&crng_node_pool, NULL, pool)) {
+	/* pairs with READ_ONCE() in select_crng() */
+	if (cmpxchg_release(&crng_node_pool, NULL, pool) != NULL) {
 		for_each_node(i)
 			kfree(pool[i]);
 		kfree(pool);
@@ -867,8 +867,26 @@ static void numa_crng_init(void)
 {
 	schedule_work(&numa_crng_init_work);
 }
+
+static struct crng_state *select_crng(void)
+{
+	struct crng_state **pool;
+	int nid = numa_node_id();
+
+	/* pairs with cmpxchg_release() in do_numa_crng_init() */
+	pool = READ_ONCE(crng_node_pool);
+	if (pool && pool[nid])
+		return pool[nid];
+
+	return &primary_crng;
+}
 #else
 static void numa_crng_init(void) {}
+
+static struct crng_state *select_crng(void)
+{
+	return &primary_crng;
+}
 #endif
 
 /*
@@ -1015,15 +1033,7 @@ static void _extract_crng(struct crng_state *crng,
 
 static void extract_crng(__u8 out[CHACHA_BLOCK_SIZE])
 {
-	struct crng_state *crng = NULL;
-
-#ifdef CONFIG_NUMA
-	if (crng_node_pool)
-		crng = crng_node_pool[numa_node_id()];
-	if (crng == NULL)
-#endif
-		crng = &primary_crng;
-	_extract_crng(crng, out);
+	_extract_crng(select_crng(), out);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -1052,15 +1062,7 @@ static void _crng_backtrack_protect(struct crng_state *crng,
 
 static void crng_backtrack_protect(__u8 tmp[CHACHA_BLOCK_SIZE], int used)
 {
-	struct crng_state *crng = NULL;
-
-#ifdef CONFIG_NUMA
-	if (crng_node_pool)
-		crng = crng_node_pool[numa_node_id()];
-	if (crng == NULL)
-#endif
-		crng = &primary_crng;
-	_crng_backtrack_protect(crng, tmp, used);
+	_crng_backtrack_protect(select_crng(), tmp, used);
 }
 
 static ssize_t extract_crng_user(void __user *buf, size_t nbytes)