diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_hwlat.c b/kernel/trace/trace_hwlat.c
index edc26dc22c3f182fbfd5bd46ba0288d3eae84759..c4945f8adc119c76dca5ec359f523bad69773e94 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_hwlat.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_hwlat.c
@@ -492,6 +492,10 @@ static int start_cpu_kthread(unsigned int cpu)
 {
 	struct task_struct *kthread;
 
+	/* Do not start a new hwlatd thread if it is already running */
+	if (per_cpu(hwlat_per_cpu_data, cpu).kthread)
+		return 0;
+
 	kthread = kthread_run_on_cpu(kthread_fn, NULL, cpu, "hwlatd/%u");
 	if (IS_ERR(kthread)) {
 		pr_err(BANNER "could not start sampling thread\n");