diff --git a/io_uring/io-wq.c b/io_uring/io-wq.c
index e93cfa82b850..28533174d0da 100644
--- a/io_uring/io-wq.c
+++ b/io_uring/io-wq.c
@@ -1420,6 +1420,12 @@ void io_wq_exit_start(struct io_wq *wq)
 	set_bit(IO_WQ_BIT_EXIT, &wq->state);
 	/* Pairs with task_work_add() in io_queue_worker_create(). */
 	smp_mb__after_atomic();
+	/*
+	 * No more workers from here on. The caller is going to run its task
+	 * work, and on exec a thread that is created now would still be
+	 * around, exiting, by the time that the caller must be on its own.
+	 */
+	io_wq_cancel_tw_create(wq);
 }
 
 static void io_wq_cancel_tw_create(struct io_wq *wq)