diff --git a/include/net/sock.h b/include/net/sock.h
index 5c97b0f..66772cf 100644
--- a/include/net/sock.h
+++ b/include/net/sock.h
@@ -866,6 +866,18 @@
 struct raw_hashinfo;
 struct module;
 
+/*
+ * caches using SLAB_DESTROY_BY_RCU should let .next pointer from nulls nodes
+ * un-modified. Special care is taken when initializing object to zero.
+ */
+static inline void sk_prot_clear_nulls(struct sock *sk, int size)
+{
+	if (offsetof(struct sock, sk_node.next) != 0)
+		memset(sk, 0, offsetof(struct sock, sk_node.next));
+	memset(&sk->sk_node.pprev, 0,
+	       size - offsetof(struct sock, sk_node.pprev));
+}
+
 /* Networking protocol blocks we attach to sockets.
  * socket layer -> transport layer interface
  * transport -> network interface is defined by struct inet_proto