diff --git a/fs/eventpoll.c b/fs/eventpoll.c
index 99368bda026..aec5c13f634 100644
--- a/fs/eventpoll.c
+++ b/fs/eventpoll.c
@@ -930,8 +930,15 @@ errxit:
 	 * inside the main ready-list here.
 	 */
 	for (nepi = ep->ovflist; (epi = nepi) != NULL;
-	     nepi = epi->next, epi->next = EP_UNACTIVE_PTR)
-		list_add_tail(&epi->rdllink, &ep->rdllist);
+	     nepi = epi->next, epi->next = EP_UNACTIVE_PTR) {
+		/*
+		 * If the above loop quit with errors, the epoll item might still
+		 * be linked to "txlist", and the list_splice() done below will
+		 * take care of those cases.
+		 */
+		if (!ep_is_linked(&epi->rdllink))
+			list_add_tail(&epi->rdllink, &ep->rdllist);
+	}
 	/*
 	 * We need to set back ep->ovflist to EP_UNACTIVE_PTR, so that after
 	 * releasing the lock, events will be queued in the normal way inside