diff --git a/arch/arm/include/asm/thread_notify.h b/arch/arm/include/asm/thread_notify.h
index f27379d..c4391ba 100644
--- a/arch/arm/include/asm/thread_notify.h
+++ b/arch/arm/include/asm/thread_notify.h
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
  * These are the reason codes for the thread notifier.
  */
 #define THREAD_NOTIFY_FLUSH	0
-#define THREAD_NOTIFY_RELEASE	1
+#define THREAD_NOTIFY_EXIT	1
 #define THREAD_NOTIFY_SWITCH	2
 
 #endif
diff --git a/arch/arm/kernel/crunch.c b/arch/arm/kernel/crunch.c
index 769abe1..25ef223 100644
--- a/arch/arm/kernel/crunch.c
+++ b/arch/arm/kernel/crunch.c
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 		 * initialised state information on the first fault.
 		 */
 
-	case THREAD_NOTIFY_RELEASE:
+	case THREAD_NOTIFY_EXIT:
 		crunch_task_release(thread);
 		break;
 
diff --git a/arch/arm/kernel/process.c b/arch/arm/kernel/process.c
index 0d96d01..6730413 100644
--- a/arch/arm/kernel/process.c
+++ b/arch/arm/kernel/process.c
@@ -274,17 +274,18 @@
 	__backtrace();
 }
 
+ATOMIC_NOTIFIER_HEAD(thread_notify_head);
+
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(thread_notify_head);
+
 /*
  * Free current thread data structures etc..
  */
 void exit_thread(void)
 {
+	thread_notify(THREAD_NOTIFY_EXIT, current_thread_info());
 }
 
-ATOMIC_NOTIFIER_HEAD(thread_notify_head);
-
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(thread_notify_head);
-
 void flush_thread(void)
 {
 	struct thread_info *thread = current_thread_info();
@@ -299,9 +300,6 @@
 
 void release_thread(struct task_struct *dead_task)
 {
-	struct thread_info *thread = task_thread_info(dead_task);
-
-	thread_notify(THREAD_NOTIFY_RELEASE, thread);
 }
 
 asmlinkage void ret_from_fork(void) __asm__("ret_from_fork");
diff --git a/arch/arm/kernel/xscale-cp0.c b/arch/arm/kernel/xscale-cp0.c
index 17127db..1796157 100644
--- a/arch/arm/kernel/xscale-cp0.c
+++ b/arch/arm/kernel/xscale-cp0.c
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
 		 * initialised state information on the first fault.
 		 */
 
-	case THREAD_NOTIFY_RELEASE:
+	case THREAD_NOTIFY_EXIT:
 		iwmmxt_task_release(thread);
 		break;
 
diff --git a/arch/arm/vfp/vfpmodule.c b/arch/arm/vfp/vfpmodule.c
index aed05bc..f60a540 100644
--- a/arch/arm/vfp/vfpmodule.c
+++ b/arch/arm/vfp/vfpmodule.c
@@ -63,14 +63,15 @@
 	put_cpu();
 }
 
-static void vfp_thread_release(struct thread_info *thread)
+static void vfp_thread_exit(struct thread_info *thread)
 {
 	/* release case: Per-thread VFP cleanup. */
 	union vfp_state *vfp = &thread->vfpstate;
-	unsigned int cpu = thread->cpu;
+	unsigned int cpu = get_cpu();
 
 	if (last_VFP_context[cpu] == vfp)
 		last_VFP_context[cpu] = NULL;
+	put_cpu();
 }
 
 /*
@@ -88,11 +89,13 @@
  *	but may change at any time.
  *   - we could be preempted if tree preempt rcu is enabled, so
  *	it is unsafe to use thread->cpu.
- *  THREAD_NOTIFY_RELEASE:
- *   - the thread (v) will not be running on any CPU; it is a dead thread.
- *   - thread->cpu will be the last CPU the thread ran on, which may not
- *	be the current CPU.
- *   - we could be preempted if tree preempt rcu is enabled.
+ *  THREAD_NOTIFY_EXIT
+ *   - the thread (v) will be running on the local CPU, so
+ *	v === current_thread_info()
+ *   - thread->cpu is the local CPU number at the time it is accessed,
+ *	but may change at any time.
+ *   - we could be preempted if tree preempt rcu is enabled, so
+ *	it is unsafe to use thread->cpu.
  */
 static int vfp_notifier(struct notifier_block *self, unsigned long cmd, void *v)
 {
@@ -133,7 +136,7 @@
 	if (cmd == THREAD_NOTIFY_FLUSH)
 		vfp_thread_flush(thread);
 	else
-		vfp_thread_release(thread);
+		vfp_thread_exit(thread);
 
 	return NOTIFY_DONE;
 }