diff --git a/io_uring/io-wq.c b/io_uring/io-wq.c
index 7d3316fe9bfc..22dac5850327 100644
--- a/io_uring/io-wq.c
+++ b/io_uring/io-wq.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include "io_uring.h"
 
 #define WORKER_IDLE_TIMEOUT	(5 * HZ)
+#define WORKER_INIT_LIMIT	3
 
 enum {
 	IO_WORKER_F_UP		= 0,	/* up and active */
@@ -58,6 +59,7 @@ struct io_worker {
 
 	unsigned long create_state;
 	struct callback_head create_work;
+	int init_retries;
 
 	union {
 		struct rcu_head rcu;
@@ -744,7 +746,7 @@ static bool io_wq_work_match_all(struct io_wq_work *work, void *data)
 	return true;
 }
 
-static inline bool io_should_retry_thread(long err)
+static inline bool io_should_retry_thread(struct io_worker *worker, long err)
 {
 	/*
 	 * Prevent perpetual task_work retry, if the task (or its group) is
@@ -752,6 +754,8 @@ static inline bool io_should_retry_thread(long err)
 	 */
 	if (fatal_signal_pending(current))
 		return false;
+	if (worker->init_retries++ >= WORKER_INIT_LIMIT)
+		return false;
 
 	switch (err) {
 	case -EAGAIN:
@@ -778,7 +782,7 @@ static void create_worker_cont(struct callback_head *cb)
 		io_init_new_worker(wq, worker, tsk);
 		io_worker_release(worker);
 		return;
-	} else if (!io_should_retry_thread(PTR_ERR(tsk))) {
+	} else if (!io_should_retry_thread(worker, PTR_ERR(tsk))) {
 		struct io_wq_acct *acct = io_wq_get_acct(worker);
 
 		atomic_dec(&acct->nr_running);
@@ -845,7 +849,7 @@ fail:
 	tsk = create_io_thread(io_wq_worker, worker, NUMA_NO_NODE);
 	if (!IS_ERR(tsk)) {
 		io_init_new_worker(wq, worker, tsk);
-	} else if (!io_should_retry_thread(PTR_ERR(tsk))) {
+	} else if (!io_should_retry_thread(worker, PTR_ERR(tsk))) {
 		kfree(worker);
 		goto fail;
 	} else {