diff --git a/kernel/audit.c b/kernel/audit.c
index 8e09f0f55b4b0f8a0b1b517e19463f8df0d8a6d2..17b0d523afb35cea50ee0ea8c5063c08b4cd209e 100644
--- a/kernel/audit.c
+++ b/kernel/audit.c
@@ -102,12 +102,13 @@ struct audit_net {
  * This struct is RCU protected; you must either hold the RCU lock for reading
  * or the associated spinlock for writing.
  */
-static struct auditd_connection {
+struct auditd_connection {
 	struct pid *pid;
 	u32 portid;
 	struct net *net;
 	struct rcu_head rcu;
-} *auditd_conn = NULL;
+};
+static struct auditd_connection __rcu *auditd_conn;
 static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(auditd_conn_lock);
 
 /* If audit_rate_limit is non-zero, limit the rate of sending audit records