diff --git a/mm/kmemleak.c b/mm/kmemleak.c
index 474379e..06cd220 100644
--- a/mm/kmemleak.c
+++ b/mm/kmemleak.c
@@ -1600,6 +1600,8 @@
 	kmemleak_found_leaks = false;
 }
 
+static void __kmemleak_do_cleanup(void);
+
 /*
  * File write operation to configure kmemleak at run-time. The following
  * commands can be written to the /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak file:
@@ -1612,7 +1614,8 @@
  *		  disable it)
  *   scan	- trigger a memory scan
  *   clear	- mark all current reported unreferenced kmemleak objects as
- *		  grey to ignore printing them
+ *		  grey to ignore printing them, or free all kmemleak objects
+ *		  if kmemleak has been disabled.
  *   dump=...	- dump information about the object found at the given address
  */
 static ssize_t kmemleak_write(struct file *file, const char __user *user_buf,
@@ -1622,9 +1625,6 @@
 	int buf_size;
 	int ret;
 
-	if (!atomic_read(&kmemleak_enabled))
-		return -EBUSY;
-
 	buf_size = min(size, (sizeof(buf) - 1));
 	if (strncpy_from_user(buf, user_buf, buf_size) < 0)
 		return -EFAULT;
@@ -1634,6 +1634,19 @@
 	if (ret < 0)
 		return ret;
 
+	if (strncmp(buf, "clear", 5) == 0) {
+		if (atomic_read(&kmemleak_enabled))
+			kmemleak_clear();
+		else
+			__kmemleak_do_cleanup();
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+	if (!atomic_read(&kmemleak_enabled)) {
+		ret = -EBUSY;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
 	if (strncmp(buf, "off", 3) == 0)
 		kmemleak_disable();
 	else if (strncmp(buf, "stack=on", 8) == 0)
@@ -1657,8 +1670,6 @@
 		}
 	} else if (strncmp(buf, "scan", 4) == 0)
 		kmemleak_scan();
-	else if (strncmp(buf, "clear", 5) == 0)
-		kmemleak_clear();
 	else if (strncmp(buf, "dump=", 5) == 0)
 		ret = dump_str_object_info(buf + 5);
 	else
@@ -1683,6 +1694,16 @@
 	.release	= kmemleak_release,
 };
 
+static void __kmemleak_do_cleanup(void)
+{
+	struct kmemleak_object *object;
+
+	rcu_read_lock();
+	list_for_each_entry_rcu(object, &object_list, object_list)
+		delete_object_full(object->pointer);
+	rcu_read_unlock();
+}
+
 /*
  * Stop the memory scanning thread and free the kmemleak internal objects if
  * no previous scan thread (otherwise, kmemleak may still have some useful
@@ -1690,17 +1711,14 @@
  */
 static void kmemleak_do_cleanup(struct work_struct *work)
 {
-	struct kmemleak_object *object;
-
 	mutex_lock(&scan_mutex);
 	stop_scan_thread();
 
-	if (!kmemleak_found_leaks) {
-		rcu_read_lock();
-		list_for_each_entry_rcu(object, &object_list, object_list)
-			delete_object_full(object->pointer);
-		rcu_read_unlock();
-	}
+	if (!kmemleak_found_leaks)
+		__kmemleak_do_cleanup();
+	else
+		pr_info("Kmemleak disabled without freeing internal data. "
+			"Reclaim the memory with \"echo clear > /sys/kernel/debug/kmemleak\"\n");
 	mutex_unlock(&scan_mutex);
 }