diff --git a/src/thread.c b/src/thread.c
index e6dc919..c54c5df 100644
--- a/src/thread.c
+++ b/src/thread.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <linux/err.h>
 #include <linux/kthread.h>
 #include <linux/mutex.h>
+#include <linux/sched/task.h>
 
 #include "thread.h"
 
@@ -19,7 +20,9 @@
  * will get the actual thread function from there and call it.
  *
  * Once the actual thread function has exited, this function will trigger the completion object
- * so that the thread can be cleaned up using kthread_stop().
+ * so that the thread can be cleaned up using kthread_stop(). Because the thread function
+ * returns on its own, the task_struct is only guaranteed to still be there because
+ * ipts_thread_start() holds a reference to it.
  */
 static int ipts_thread_runner(void *data)
 {
@@ -40,14 +43,36 @@ bool ipts_thread_should_stop(struct ipts_thread *thread)
 int ipts_thread_start(struct ipts_thread *thread, int (*threadfn)(struct ipts_thread *thread),
 		      void *data, const char *name)
 {
+	struct task_struct *task = NULL;
+
 	init_completion(&thread->done);
 
 	thread->data = data;
 	thread->should_stop = false;
 	thread->threadfn = threadfn;
 
-	thread->thread = kthread_run(ipts_thread_runner, thread, name);
-	return PTR_ERR_OR_ZERO(thread->thread);
+	task = kthread_create(ipts_thread_runner, thread, name);
+	if (IS_ERR(task)) {
+		/*
+		 * Do not leave an error pointer behind: ipts_thread_stop() only checks for
+		 * NULL, and would pass it on to kthread_stop().
+		 */
+		thread->thread = NULL;
+		return PTR_ERR(task);
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * ipts_thread_runner() completes &thread->done and then returns, so the kthread can
+	 * exit and have its task_struct freed before ipts_thread_stop() gets to call
+	 * kthread_stop() on it. Hold a reference so that the task stays valid until then, as
+	 * kthread_stop() requires of a thread function that may exit on its own.
+	 */
+	get_task_struct(task);
+	thread->thread = task;
+
+	wake_up_process(task);
+
+	return 0;
 }
 
 int ipts_thread_stop(struct ipts_thread *thread)
@@ -65,7 +90,7 @@ int ipts_thread_stop(struct ipts_thread *thread)
 	wmb();
 
 	wait_for_completion(&thread->done);
-	ret = kthread_stop(thread->thread);
+	ret = kthread_stop_put(thread->thread);
 
 	thread->thread = NULL;
 	thread->data = NULL;