diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/filecheck.c b/fs/ocfs2/filecheck.c
index be713d7d24a7..75334e4bd082 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/filecheck.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/filecheck.c
@@ -179,17 +179,20 @@ int ocfs2_filecheck_create_sysfs(struct ocfs2_super *osb)
 	fcheck->fc_size = 0;
 	fcheck->fc_done = 0;
 
+	/* Publish the initialized owner before activating its sysfs callbacks. */
+	entry->fs_fcheck = fcheck;
 	entry->fs_kobj.kset = osb->osb_dev_kset;
 	init_completion(&entry->fs_kobj_unregister);
 	ret = kobject_init_and_add(&entry->fs_kobj, &ocfs2_ktype_filecheck,
 					NULL, "filecheck");
 	if (ret) {
+		/* Mount failure still calls ocfs2_filecheck_remove_sysfs(). */
+		entry->fs_fcheck = NULL;
 		kobject_put(&entry->fs_kobj);
 		kfree(fcheck);
 		return ret;
 	}
 
-	entry->fs_fcheck = fcheck;
 	return 0;
 }