kenter("%p{%u}", user, uid);
 
-       if (user->uid_keyring && user->session_keyring) {
+       if (READ_ONCE(user->uid_keyring) && READ_ONCE(user->session_keyring)) {
                kleave(" = 0 [exist]");
                return 0;
        }
                }
 
                /* install the keyrings */
-               user->uid_keyring = uid_keyring;
-               user->session_keyring = session_keyring;
+               /* paired with READ_ONCE() */
+               smp_store_release(&user->uid_keyring, uid_keyring);
+               /* paired with READ_ONCE() */
+               smp_store_release(&user->session_keyring, session_keyring);
        }
 
        mutex_unlock(&key_user_keyring_mutex);
 key_ref_t search_my_process_keyrings(struct keyring_search_context *ctx)
 {
        key_ref_t key_ref, ret, err;
+       const struct cred *cred = ctx->cred;
 
        /* we want to return -EAGAIN or -ENOKEY if any of the keyrings were
         * searchable, but we failed to find a key or we found a negative key;
        err = ERR_PTR(-EAGAIN);
 
        /* search the thread keyring first */
-       if (ctx->cred->thread_keyring) {
+       if (cred->thread_keyring) {
                key_ref = keyring_search_aux(
-                       make_key_ref(ctx->cred->thread_keyring, 1), ctx);
+                       make_key_ref(cred->thread_keyring, 1), ctx);
                if (!IS_ERR(key_ref))
                        goto found;
 
        }
 
        /* search the process keyring second */
-       if (ctx->cred->process_keyring) {
+       if (cred->process_keyring) {
                key_ref = keyring_search_aux(
-                       make_key_ref(ctx->cred->process_keyring, 1), ctx);
+                       make_key_ref(cred->process_keyring, 1), ctx);
                if (!IS_ERR(key_ref))
                        goto found;
 
        }
 
        /* search the session keyring */
-       if (ctx->cred->session_keyring) {
+       if (cred->session_keyring) {
                key_ref = keyring_search_aux(
-                       make_key_ref(ctx->cred->session_keyring, 1), ctx);
+                       make_key_ref(cred->session_keyring, 1), ctx);
 
                if (!IS_ERR(key_ref))
                        goto found;
                }
        }
        /* or search the user-session keyring */
-       else if (ctx->cred->user->session_keyring) {
+       else if (READ_ONCE(cred->user->session_keyring)) {
                key_ref = keyring_search_aux(
-                       make_key_ref(ctx->cred->user->session_keyring, 1),
+                       make_key_ref(READ_ONCE(cred->user->session_keyring), 1),
                        ctx);
                if (!IS_ERR(key_ref))
                        goto found;
                                goto error;
                        goto reget_creds;
                } else if (ctx.cred->session_keyring ==
-                          ctx.cred->user->session_keyring &&
+                          READ_ONCE(ctx.cred->user->session_keyring) &&
                           lflags & KEY_LOOKUP_CREATE) {
                        ret = join_session_keyring(NULL);
                        if (ret < 0)
                break;
 
        case KEY_SPEC_USER_KEYRING:
-               if (!ctx.cred->user->uid_keyring) {
+               if (!READ_ONCE(ctx.cred->user->uid_keyring)) {
                        ret = install_user_keyrings();
                        if (ret < 0)
                                goto error;
                break;
 
        case KEY_SPEC_USER_SESSION_KEYRING:
-               if (!ctx.cred->user->session_keyring) {
+               if (!READ_ONCE(ctx.cred->user->session_keyring)) {
                        ret = install_user_keyrings();
                        if (ret < 0)
                                goto error;