diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/memfd/memfd_test.c b/tools/testing/selftests/memfd/memfd_test.c
index ae71f15f790dfda3b7f47ca7ccf74d7da38dfc5e..dba0e8ba002f8862ff7d34dc09703c39a259dd13 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/memfd/memfd_test.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/memfd/memfd_test.c
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@
  */
 static size_t mfd_def_size = MFD_DEF_SIZE;
 static const char *memfd_str = MEMFD_STR;
+static pid_t spawn_newpid_thread(unsigned int flags, int (*fn)(void *));
+static int newpid_thread_fn2(void *arg);
+static void join_newpid_thread(pid_t pid);
 
 static ssize_t fd2name(int fd, char *buf, size_t bufsize)
 {
@@ -1111,6 +1114,7 @@ static void test_noexec_seal(void)
 static void test_sysctl_child(void)
 {
 	int fd;
+	int pid;
 
 	printf("%s sysctl 0\n", memfd_str);
 	sysctl_assert_write("0");
@@ -1129,6 +1133,10 @@ static void test_sysctl_child(void)
 			    mfd_def_size,
 			    MFD_CLOEXEC | MFD_ALLOW_SEALING);
 
+	printf("%s child ns\n", memfd_str);
+	pid = spawn_newpid_thread(CLONE_NEWPID, newpid_thread_fn2);
+	join_newpid_thread(pid);
+
 	mfd_assert_mode(fd, 0666);
 	mfd_assert_has_seals(fd, F_SEAL_EXEC);
 	mfd_fail_chmod(fd, 0777);
@@ -1206,12 +1214,6 @@ static void test_sysctl(void)
 	int pid = spawn_newpid_thread(CLONE_NEWPID, newpid_thread_fn);
 
 	join_newpid_thread(pid);
-
-	printf("%s child ns\n", memfd_str);
-	sysctl_assert_write("1");
-
-	pid = spawn_newpid_thread(CLONE_NEWPID, newpid_thread_fn2);
-	join_newpid_thread(pid);
 }
 
 /*