diff --git a/net/socket.c b/net/socket.c
index c05d86e63abf..4cb8662869f0 100644
--- a/net/socket.c
+++ b/net/socket.c
@@ -1851,10 +1851,7 @@ int __sys_socketpair(int family, int type, int protocol, int __user *usockvec)
 	if (SOCK_NONBLOCK != O_NONBLOCK && (flags & SOCK_NONBLOCK))
 		flags = (flags & ~SOCK_NONBLOCK) | O_NONBLOCK;
 
-	/*
-	 * reserve descriptors and make sure we won't fail
-	 * to return them to userland.
-	 */
+	/* Reserve both descriptors before creating the sockets. */
 	fd1 = get_unused_fd_flags(flags);
 	if (unlikely(fd1 < 0))
 		return fd1;
@@ -1865,14 +1862,6 @@ int __sys_socketpair(int family, int type, int protocol, int __user *usockvec)
 		return fd2;
 	}
 
-	err = put_user(fd1, &usockvec[0]);
-	if (err)
-		goto out;
-
-	err = put_user(fd2, &usockvec[1]);
-	if (err)
-		goto out;
-
 	/*
 	 * Obtain the first socket and check if the underlying protocol
 	 * supports the socketpair call.
@@ -1916,6 +1905,16 @@ int __sys_socketpair(int family, int type, int protocol, int __user *usockvec)
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	/* Publish the descriptors now that it shouldn't fail. */
+	err = put_user(fd1, &usockvec[0]);
+	if (!err)
+		err = put_user(fd2, &usockvec[1]);
+	if (err) {
+		fput(newfile2);
+		fput(newfile1);
+		goto out;
+	}
+
 	audit_fd_pair(fd1, fd2);
 
 	fd_install(fd1, newfile1);