diff --git a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
index 3415e20f0065..b06acd0f400d 100644
--- a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
+++ b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.c
@@ -1737,14 +1737,12 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(l2tp_tunnel_create);
 
 /* This function is used by the netlink TUNNEL_DELETE command.
  */
-int l2tp_tunnel_delete(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel)
+void l2tp_tunnel_delete(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel)
 {
-	l2tp_tunnel_inc_refcount(tunnel);
-	if (false == queue_work(l2tp_wq, &tunnel->del_work)) {
-		l2tp_tunnel_dec_refcount(tunnel);
-		return 1;
+	if (!test_and_set_bit(0, &tunnel->dead)) {
+		l2tp_tunnel_inc_refcount(tunnel);
+		queue_work(l2tp_wq, &tunnel->del_work);
 	}
-	return 0;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(l2tp_tunnel_delete);
 
diff --git a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.h b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.h
index 0095012509ac..42419f1c24cf 100644
--- a/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.h
+++ b/net/l2tp/l2tp_core.h
@@ -169,6 +169,9 @@ struct l2tp_tunnel_cfg {
 
 struct l2tp_tunnel {
 	int			magic;		/* Should be L2TP_TUNNEL_MAGIC */
+
+	unsigned long		dead;
+
 	struct rcu_head rcu;
 	rwlock_t		hlist_lock;	/* protect session_hlist */
 	struct hlist_head	session_hlist[L2TP_HASH_SIZE];
@@ -257,7 +260,7 @@ int l2tp_tunnel_create(struct net *net, int fd, int version, u32 tunnel_id,
 		       u32 peer_tunnel_id, struct l2tp_tunnel_cfg *cfg,
 		       struct l2tp_tunnel **tunnelp);
 void l2tp_tunnel_closeall(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel);
-int l2tp_tunnel_delete(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel);
+void l2tp_tunnel_delete(struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel);
 struct l2tp_session *l2tp_session_create(int priv_size,
 					 struct l2tp_tunnel *tunnel,
 					 u32 session_id, u32 peer_session_id,