diff --git a/drivers/block/nbd.c b/drivers/block/nbd.c
index 0d064fab6186..0ee104fbb628 100644
--- a/drivers/block/nbd.c
+++ b/drivers/block/nbd.c
@@ -122,10 +122,10 @@ struct nbd_device {
 	struct work_struct remove_work;
 
 	struct list_head list;
-	struct task_struct *task_recv;
 	struct task_struct *task_setup;
 
 	unsigned long flags;
+	pid_t pid; /* pid of nbd-client, if attached */
 
 	char *backend;
 };
@@ -223,7 +223,7 @@ static ssize_t pid_show(struct device *dev,
 	struct gendisk *disk = dev_to_disk(dev);
 	struct nbd_device *nbd = (struct nbd_device *)disk->private_data;
 
-	return sprintf(buf, "%d\n", task_pid_nr(nbd->task_recv));
+	return sprintf(buf, "%d\n", nbd->pid);
 }
 
 static const struct device_attribute pid_attr = {
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ static int nbd_set_size(struct nbd_device *nbd, loff_t bytesize,
 	nbd->config->bytesize = bytesize;
 	nbd->config->blksize_bits = __ffs(blksize);
 
-	if (!nbd->task_recv)
+	if (!nbd->pid)
 		return 0;
 
 	if (nbd->config->flags & NBD_FLAG_SEND_TRIM) {
@@ -1300,7 +1300,7 @@ static void nbd_config_put(struct nbd_device *nbd)
 		if (test_and_clear_bit(NBD_RT_HAS_PID_FILE,
 				       &config->runtime_flags))
 			device_remove_file(disk_to_dev(nbd->disk), &pid_attr);
-		nbd->task_recv = NULL;
+		nbd->pid = 0;
 		if (test_and_clear_bit(NBD_RT_HAS_BACKEND_FILE,
 				       &config->runtime_flags)) {
 			device_remove_file(disk_to_dev(nbd->disk), &backend_attr);
@@ -1341,7 +1341,7 @@ static int nbd_start_device(struct nbd_device *nbd)
 	int num_connections = config->num_connections;
 	int error = 0, i;
 
-	if (nbd->task_recv)
+	if (nbd->pid)
 		return -EBUSY;
 	if (!config->socks)
 		return -EINVAL;
@@ -1360,7 +1360,7 @@ static int nbd_start_device(struct nbd_device *nbd)
 	}
 
 	blk_mq_update_nr_hw_queues(&nbd->tag_set, config->num_connections);
-	nbd->task_recv = current;
+	nbd->pid = task_pid_nr(current);
 
 	nbd_parse_flags(nbd);
 
@@ -1616,8 +1616,8 @@ static int nbd_dbg_tasks_show(struct seq_file *s, void *unused)
 {
 	struct nbd_device *nbd = s->private;
 
-	if (nbd->task_recv)
-		seq_printf(s, "recv: %d\n", task_pid_nr(nbd->task_recv));
+	if (nbd->pid)
+		seq_printf(s, "recv: %d\n", nbd->pid);
 
 	return 0;
 }
@@ -2198,7 +2198,7 @@ static int nbd_genl_reconfigure(struct sk_buff *skb, struct genl_info *info)
 	mutex_lock(&nbd->config_lock);
 	config = nbd->config;
 	if (!test_bit(NBD_RT_BOUND, &config->runtime_flags) ||
-	    !nbd->task_recv) {
+	    !nbd->pid) {
 		dev_err(nbd_to_dev(nbd),
 			"not configured, cannot reconfigure\n");
 		ret = -EINVAL;