diff --git a/kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c b/kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c
index e7451743b87e..d79047d9ebb6 100644
--- a/kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c
+++ b/kernel/liveupdate/kexec_handover.c
@@ -527,6 +527,13 @@ static phys_addr_t __init kho_get_mem_map_phys(const void *fdt)
 	return get_unaligned((const u64 *)mem_ptr);
 }
 
+static void __init *kho_get_mem_map(const void *fdt)
+{
+	phys_addr_t phys = kho_get_mem_map_phys(fdt);
+
+	return phys ? phys_to_virt(phys) : NULL;
+}
+
 /*
  * With KHO enabled, memory can become fragmented because KHO regions may
  * be anywhere in physical address space. The scratch regions give us a
@@ -1332,6 +1339,7 @@ struct kho_in {
 	char previous_release[__NEW_UTS_LEN + 1];
 	u32 kexec_count;
 	struct kho_debugfs dbg;
+	struct kho_radix_tree radix_tree;
 };
 
 static struct kho_in kho_in = {
@@ -1411,24 +1419,20 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(kho_retrieve_subtree);
 
 static int __init kho_mem_retrieve(const void *fdt)
 {
-	struct kho_radix_tree tree;
-	const phys_addr_t *mem;
-	int len;
+	void *mem_map = kho_get_mem_map(fdt);
 
-	/* Retrieve the KHO radix tree from passed-in FDT. */
-	mem = fdt_getprop(fdt, 0, KHO_FDT_MEMORY_MAP_PROP_NAME, &len);
-
-	if (!mem || len != sizeof(*mem)) {
-		pr_err("failed to get preserved KHO memory tree\n");
-		return -ENOENT;
-	}
-
-	if (!*mem)
+	/*
+	 * kho_get_mem_map() should always succeed. If it fails, kho_populate()
+	 * catches that and never sets kho_in.scratch_phys, which stops memory
+	 * retrieval.
+	 */
+	if (WARN_ON(!mem_map))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	tree.root = phys_to_virt(*mem);
-	mutex_init(&tree.lock);
-	return kho_radix_walk_tree(&tree, kho_preserved_memory_reserve);
+	kho_in.radix_tree.root = mem_map;
+	mutex_init(&kho_in.radix_tree.lock);
+	return kho_radix_walk_tree(&kho_in.radix_tree,
+				   kho_preserved_memory_reserve);
 }
 
 static __init int kho_out_fdt_setup(void)
@@ -1635,8 +1639,10 @@ void __init kho_memory_init(void)
 	if (kho_in.scratch_phys) {
 		kho_scratch = phys_to_virt(kho_in.scratch_phys);
 
-		if (kho_mem_retrieve(kho_get_fdt()))
+		if (kho_mem_retrieve(kho_get_fdt())) {
 			kho_in.fdt_phys = 0;
+			kho_in.radix_tree.root = NULL;
+		}
 	} else {
 		kho_reserve_scratch();
 	}