diff --git a/kernel/watchdog_hld.c b/kernel/watchdog_hld.c
index a7f137c1933a..a84b205fac9a 100644
--- a/kernel/watchdog_hld.c
+++ b/kernel/watchdog_hld.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #define pr_fmt(fmt) "NMI watchdog: " fmt
 
 #include <linux/nmi.h>
+#include <linux/atomic.h>
 #include <linux/module.h>
 #include <linux/sched/debug.h>
 
@@ -25,7 +26,7 @@ static DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct perf_event *, dead_event);
 static struct cpumask dead_events_mask;
 
 static unsigned long hardlockup_allcpu_dumped;
-static unsigned int watchdog_cpus;
+static atomic_t watchdog_cpus = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
 
 void arch_touch_nmi_watchdog(void)
 {
@@ -189,7 +190,8 @@ void hardlockup_detector_perf_enable(void)
 	if (hardlockup_detector_event_create())
 		return;
 
-	if (!watchdog_cpus++)
+	/* use original value for check */
+	if (!atomic_fetch_inc(&watchdog_cpus))
 		pr_info("Enabled. Permanently consumes one hw-PMU counter.\n");
 
 	perf_event_enable(this_cpu_read(watchdog_ev));
@@ -207,7 +209,7 @@ void hardlockup_detector_perf_disable(void)
 		this_cpu_write(watchdog_ev, NULL);
 		this_cpu_write(dead_event, event);
 		cpumask_set_cpu(smp_processor_id(), &dead_events_mask);
-		watchdog_cpus--;
+		atomic_dec(&watchdog_cpus);
 	}
 }