diff --git a/drivers/misc/genwqe/card_base.h b/drivers/misc/genwqe/card_base.h
index 5813b5f25006..135e02f257c1 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/genwqe/card_base.h
+++ b/drivers/misc/genwqe/card_base.h
@@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ struct genwqe_file {
 	struct file *filp;
 
 	struct fasync_struct *async_queue;
-	struct task_struct *owner;
+	struct pid *opener;
 	struct list_head list;		/* entry in list of open files */
 
 	spinlock_t map_lock;		/* lock for dma_mappings */
diff --git a/drivers/misc/genwqe/card_dev.c b/drivers/misc/genwqe/card_dev.c
index dd4617764f14..dbd5eaa69311 100644
--- a/drivers/misc/genwqe/card_dev.c
+++ b/drivers/misc/genwqe/card_dev.c
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ static void genwqe_add_file(struct genwqe_dev *cd, struct genwqe_file *cfile)
 {
 	unsigned long flags;
 
-	cfile->owner = current;
+	cfile->opener = get_pid(task_tgid(current));
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&cd->file_lock, flags);
 	list_add(&cfile->list, &cd->file_list);
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cd->file_lock, flags);
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ static int genwqe_del_file(struct genwqe_dev *cd, struct genwqe_file *cfile)
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&cd->file_lock, flags);
 	list_del(&cfile->list);
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cd->file_lock, flags);
+	put_pid(cfile->opener);
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -275,7 +276,7 @@ static int genwqe_kill_fasync(struct genwqe_dev *cd, int sig)
 	return files;
 }
 
-static int genwqe_force_sig(struct genwqe_dev *cd, int sig)
+static int genwqe_terminate(struct genwqe_dev *cd)
 {
 	unsigned int files = 0;
 	unsigned long flags;
@@ -283,7 +284,7 @@ static int genwqe_force_sig(struct genwqe_dev *cd, int sig)
 
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&cd->file_lock, flags);
 	list_for_each_entry(cfile, &cd->file_list, list) {
-		force_sig(sig, cfile->owner);
+		kill_pid(cfile->opener, SIGKILL, 1);
 		files++;
 	}
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cd->file_lock, flags);
@@ -1356,7 +1357,7 @@ static int genwqe_inform_and_stop_processes(struct genwqe_dev *cd)
 		dev_warn(&pci_dev->dev,
 			 "[%s] send SIGKILL and wait ...\n", __func__);
 
-		rc = genwqe_force_sig(cd, SIGKILL); /* force terminate */
+		rc = genwqe_terminate(cd);
 		if (rc) {
 			/* Give kill_timout more seconds to end processes */
 			for (i = 0; (i < genwqe_kill_timeout) &&