diff --git a/kernel/sched/cputime.c b/kernel/sched/cputime.c
index 9858266fb0b3..2ee83b200504 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/cputime.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/cputime.c
@@ -614,19 +614,25 @@ static void cputime_adjust(struct task_cputime *curr,
 	stime = curr->stime;
 	utime = curr->utime;
 
-	if (utime == 0) {
-		stime = rtime;
+	/*
+	 * If either stime or both stime and utime are 0, assume all runtime is
+	 * userspace. Once a task gets some ticks, the monotonicy code at
+	 * 'update' will ensure things converge to the observed ratio.
+	 */
+	if (stime == 0) {
+		utime = rtime;
 		goto update;
 	}
 
-	if (stime == 0) {
-		utime = rtime;
+	if (utime == 0) {
+		stime = rtime;
 		goto update;
 	}
 
 	stime = scale_stime((__force u64)stime, (__force u64)rtime,
 			    (__force u64)(stime + utime));
 
+update:
 	/*
 	 * Make sure stime doesn't go backwards; this preserves monotonicity
 	 * for utime because rtime is monotonic.
@@ -649,7 +655,6 @@ static void cputime_adjust(struct task_cputime *curr,
 		stime = rtime - utime;
 	}
 
-update:
 	prev->stime = stime;
 	prev->utime = utime;
 out: