diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index b1092046ebef..05bc5f25ab85 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -601,6 +601,7 @@ static inline void *kvcalloc(size_t n, size_t size, gfp_t flags)
 }
 
 extern void kvfree(const void *addr);
+extern void kvfree_sensitive(const void *addr, size_t len);
 
 /*
  * Mapcount of compound page as a whole, does not include mapped sub-pages.
diff --git a/mm/util.c b/mm/util.c
index 6a24a1025d77..621afcea2bfa 100644
--- a/mm/util.c
+++ b/mm/util.c
@@ -453,6 +453,24 @@ void kvfree(const void *addr)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(kvfree);
 
+/**
+ * kvfree_sensitive - Free a data object containing sensitive information.
+ * @addr: address of the data object to be freed.
+ * @len: length of the data object.
+ *
+ * Use the special memzero_explicit() function to clear the content of a
+ * kvmalloc'ed object containing sensitive data to make sure that the
+ * compiler won't optimize out the data clearing.
+ */
+void kvfree_sensitive(const void *addr, size_t len)
+{
+	if (likely(!ZERO_OR_NULL_PTR(addr))) {
+		memzero_explicit((void *)addr, len);
+		kvfree(addr);
+	}
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(kvfree_sensitive);
+
 static inline void *__page_rmapping(struct page *page)
 {
 	unsigned long mapping;
diff --git a/security/keys/internal.h b/security/keys/internal.h
index eb50212fbbf8..d1b9c5957000 100644
--- a/security/keys/internal.h
+++ b/security/keys/internal.h
@@ -306,15 +306,4 @@ static inline void key_check(const struct key *key)
 #define key_check(key) do {} while(0)
 
 #endif
-
-/*
- * Helper function to clear and free a kvmalloc'ed memory object.
- */
-static inline void __kvzfree(const void *addr, size_t len)
-{
-	if (addr) {
-		memset((void *)addr, 0, len);
-		kvfree(addr);
-	}
-}
 #endif /* _INTERNAL_H */
diff --git a/security/keys/keyctl.c b/security/keys/keyctl.c
index c07c2e2b2478..9394d72a77e8 100644
--- a/security/keys/keyctl.c
+++ b/security/keys/keyctl.c
@@ -133,10 +133,7 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE5(add_key, const char __user *, _type,
 
 	key_ref_put(keyring_ref);
  error3:
-	if (payload) {
-		memzero_explicit(payload, plen);
-		kvfree(payload);
-	}
+	kvfree_sensitive(payload, plen);
  error2:
 	kfree(description);
  error:
@@ -351,7 +348,7 @@ long keyctl_update_key(key_serial_t id,
 
 	key_ref_put(key_ref);
 error2:
-	__kvzfree(payload, plen);
+	kvfree_sensitive(payload, plen);
 error:
 	return ret;
 }
@@ -859,7 +856,7 @@ long keyctl_read_key(key_serial_t keyid, char __user *buffer, size_t buflen)
 		 */
 		if (ret > key_data_len) {
 			if (unlikely(key_data))
-				__kvzfree(key_data, key_data_len);
+				kvfree_sensitive(key_data, key_data_len);
 			key_data_len = ret;
 			continue;	/* Allocate buffer */
 		}
@@ -868,7 +865,7 @@ long keyctl_read_key(key_serial_t keyid, char __user *buffer, size_t buflen)
 			ret = -EFAULT;
 		break;
 	}
-	__kvzfree(key_data, key_data_len);
+	kvfree_sensitive(key_data, key_data_len);
 
 key_put_out:
 	key_put(key);
@@ -1170,10 +1167,7 @@ long keyctl_instantiate_key_common(key_serial_t id,
 		keyctl_change_reqkey_auth(NULL);
 
 error2:
-	if (payload) {
-		memzero_explicit(payload, plen);
-		kvfree(payload);
-	}
+	kvfree_sensitive(payload, plen);
 error:
 	return ret;
 }