diff --git a/drivers/nvme/target/core.c b/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
index d44ede147263..2d73b66e3686 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/target/core.c
@@ -1163,6 +1163,15 @@ static void nvmet_release_p2p_ns_map(struct nvmet_ctrl *ctrl)
 	put_device(ctrl->p2p_client);
 }
 
+static void nvmet_fatal_error_handler(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+	struct nvmet_ctrl *ctrl =
+			container_of(work, struct nvmet_ctrl, fatal_err_work);
+
+	pr_err("ctrl %d fatal error occurred!\n", ctrl->cntlid);
+	ctrl->ops->delete_ctrl(ctrl);
+}
+
 u16 nvmet_alloc_ctrl(const char *subsysnqn, const char *hostnqn,
 		struct nvmet_req *req, u32 kato, struct nvmet_ctrl **ctrlp)
 {
@@ -1205,6 +1214,7 @@ u16 nvmet_alloc_ctrl(const char *subsysnqn, const char *hostnqn,
 	INIT_WORK(&ctrl->async_event_work, nvmet_async_event_work);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&ctrl->async_events);
 	INIT_RADIX_TREE(&ctrl->p2p_ns_map, GFP_KERNEL);
+	INIT_WORK(&ctrl->fatal_err_work, nvmet_fatal_error_handler);
 
 	memcpy(ctrl->subsysnqn, subsysnqn, NVMF_NQN_SIZE);
 	memcpy(ctrl->hostnqn, hostnqn, NVMF_NQN_SIZE);
@@ -1308,21 +1318,11 @@ void nvmet_ctrl_put(struct nvmet_ctrl *ctrl)
 	kref_put(&ctrl->ref, nvmet_ctrl_free);
 }
 
-static void nvmet_fatal_error_handler(struct work_struct *work)
-{
-	struct nvmet_ctrl *ctrl =
-			container_of(work, struct nvmet_ctrl, fatal_err_work);
-
-	pr_err("ctrl %d fatal error occurred!\n", ctrl->cntlid);
-	ctrl->ops->delete_ctrl(ctrl);
-}
-
 void nvmet_ctrl_fatal_error(struct nvmet_ctrl *ctrl)
 {
 	mutex_lock(&ctrl->lock);
 	if (!(ctrl->csts & NVME_CSTS_CFS)) {
 		ctrl->csts |= NVME_CSTS_CFS;
-		INIT_WORK(&ctrl->fatal_err_work, nvmet_fatal_error_handler);
 		schedule_work(&ctrl->fatal_err_work);
 	}
 	mutex_unlock(&ctrl->lock);