}
 
        if (!cpu_map__is_dummy(evsel_list->core.user_requested_cpus)) {
-               if (affinity__setup(&saved_affinity) < 0)
-                       return -1;
+               if (affinity__setup(&saved_affinity) < 0) {
+                       err = -1;
+                       goto err_out;
+               }
                affinity = &saved_affinity;
        }
 
        evlist__for_each_entry(evsel_list, counter) {
                counter->reset_group = false;
-               if (bpf_counter__load(counter, &target))
-                       return -1;
+               if (bpf_counter__load(counter, &target)) {
+                       err = -1;
+                       goto err_out;
+               }
                if (!(evsel__is_bperf(counter)))
                        all_counters_use_bpf = false;
        }
 
                        switch (stat_handle_error(counter)) {
                        case COUNTER_FATAL:
-                               return -1;
+                               err = -1;
+                               goto err_out;
                        case COUNTER_RETRY:
                                goto try_again;
                        case COUNTER_SKIP:
 
                                switch (stat_handle_error(counter)) {
                                case COUNTER_FATAL:
-                                       return -1;
+                                       err = -1;
+                                       goto err_out;
                                case COUNTER_RETRY:
                                        goto try_again_reset;
                                case COUNTER_SKIP:
                        stat_config.unit_width = l;
 
                if (evsel__should_store_id(counter) &&
-                   evsel__store_ids(counter, evsel_list))
-                       return -1;
+                   evsel__store_ids(counter, evsel_list)) {
+                       err = -1;
+                       goto err_out;
+               }
        }
 
        if (evlist__apply_filters(evsel_list, &counter, &target)) {
                }
 
                if (err < 0)
-                       return err;
+                       goto err_out;
 
                err = perf_event__synthesize_stat_events(&stat_config, NULL, evsel_list,
                                                         process_synthesized_event, is_pipe);
                if (err < 0)
-                       return err;
+                       goto err_out;
+
        }
 
        if (target.initial_delay) {
                pr_info(EVLIST_DISABLED_MSG);
        } else {
                err = enable_counters();
-               if (err)
-                       return -1;
+               if (err) {
+                       err = -1;
+                       goto err_out;
+               }
        }
 
        /* Exec the command, if any */
        if (target.initial_delay > 0) {
                usleep(target.initial_delay * USEC_PER_MSEC);
                err = enable_counters();
-               if (err)
-                       return -1;
+               if (err) {
+                       err = -1;
+                       goto err_out;
+               }
 
                pr_info(EVLIST_ENABLED_MSG);
        }
                if (workload_exec_errno) {
                        const char *emsg = str_error_r(workload_exec_errno, msg, sizeof(msg));
                        pr_err("Workload failed: %s\n", emsg);
-                       return -1;
+                       err = -1;
+                       goto err_out;
                }
 
                if (WIFSIGNALED(status))
                evlist__close(evsel_list);
 
        return WEXITSTATUS(status);
+
+err_out:
+       if (forks)
+               evlist__cancel_workload(evsel_list);
+
+       return err;
 }
 
 static int run_perf_stat(int argc, const char **argv, int run_idx)
 
 #include <sys/mman.h>
 #include <sys/prctl.h>
 #include <sys/timerfd.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
 
 #include <linux/bitops.h>
 #include <linux/hash.h>
        int child_ready_pipe[2], go_pipe[2];
        char bf;
 
+       evlist->workload.cork_fd = -1;
+
        if (pipe(child_ready_pipe) < 0) {
                perror("failed to create 'ready' pipe");
                return -1;
                 * For cancelling the workload without actually running it,
                 * the parent will just close workload.cork_fd, without writing
                 * anything, i.e. read will return zero and we just exit()
-                * here.
+                * here (See evlist__cancel_workload()).
                 */
                if (ret != 1) {
                        if (ret == -1)
 
 int evlist__start_workload(struct evlist *evlist)
 {
-       if (evlist->workload.cork_fd > 0) {
+       if (evlist->workload.cork_fd >= 0) {
                char bf = 0;
                int ret;
                /*
                        perror("unable to write to pipe");
 
                close(evlist->workload.cork_fd);
+               evlist->workload.cork_fd = -1;
                return ret;
        }
 
        return 0;
 }
 
+void evlist__cancel_workload(struct evlist *evlist)
+{
+       int status;
+
+       if (evlist->workload.cork_fd >= 0) {
+               close(evlist->workload.cork_fd);
+               evlist->workload.cork_fd = -1;
+               waitpid(evlist->workload.pid, &status, WNOHANG);
+       }
+}
+
 int evlist__parse_sample(struct evlist *evlist, union perf_event *event, struct perf_sample *sample)
 {
        struct evsel *evsel = evlist__event2evsel(evlist, event);