diff --git a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_nl.c b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_nl.c
index da4a3ebe04ef..aee272e620b9 100644
--- a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_nl.c
+++ b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_nl.c
@@ -382,13 +382,11 @@ int drbd_khelper(struct drbd_device *device, char *cmd)
 	notify_helper(NOTIFY_CALL, device, connection, cmd, 0);
 	ret = call_usermodehelper(drbd_usermode_helper, argv, envp, UMH_WAIT_PROC);
 	if (ret)
-		drbd_warn(device, "helper command: %s %s %s exit code %u (0x%x)\n",
-				drbd_usermode_helper, cmd, mb,
-				(ret >> 8) & 0xff, ret);
+		drbd_warn(device, "helper command: %s %s %s failed with exit code %u (0x%x)\n",
+				drbd_usermode_helper, cmd, mb, ret, ret);
 	else
-		drbd_info(device, "helper command: %s %s %s exit code %u (0x%x)\n",
-				drbd_usermode_helper, cmd, mb,
-				(ret >> 8) & 0xff, ret);
+		drbd_info(device, "helper command: %s %s %s completed successfully\n",
+				drbd_usermode_helper, cmd, mb);
 	sib.sib_reason = SIB_HELPER_POST;
 	sib.helper_exit_code = ret;
 	drbd_bcast_event(device, &sib);
@@ -424,13 +422,11 @@ enum drbd_peer_state conn_khelper(struct drbd_connection *connection, char *cmd)
 
 	ret = call_usermodehelper(drbd_usermode_helper, argv, envp, UMH_WAIT_PROC);
 	if (ret)
-		drbd_warn(connection, "helper command: %s %s %s exit code %u (0x%x)\n",
-			  drbd_usermode_helper, cmd, resource_name,
-			  (ret >> 8) & 0xff, ret);
+		drbd_warn(connection, "helper command: %s %s %s failed with exit code %u (0x%x)\n",
+			  drbd_usermode_helper, cmd, resource_name, ret, ret);
 	else
-		drbd_info(connection, "helper command: %s %s %s exit code %u (0x%x)\n",
-			  drbd_usermode_helper, cmd, resource_name,
-			  (ret >> 8) & 0xff, ret);
+		drbd_info(connection, "helper command: %s %s %s completed successfully\n",
+			  drbd_usermode_helper, cmd, resource_name);
 	/* TODO: conn_bcast_event() ?? */
 	notify_helper(NOTIFY_RESPONSE, NULL, connection, cmd, ret);
 
diff --git a/fs/nfsd/nfs4recover.c b/fs/nfsd/nfs4recover.c
index 9e40dfecf1b1..33e6a7fd7961 100644
--- a/fs/nfsd/nfs4recover.c
+++ b/fs/nfsd/nfs4recover.c
@@ -1820,7 +1820,7 @@ nfsd4_umh_cltrack_upcall(char *cmd, char *arg, char *env0, char *env1)
 
 	ret = call_usermodehelper(argv[0], argv, envp, UMH_WAIT_PROC);
 	/*
-	 * Disable the upcall mechanism if we're getting an ENOENT or EACCES
+	 * Disable the upcall mechanism if we're getting an -ENOENT or -EACCES
 	 * error. The admin can re-enable it on the fly by using sysfs
 	 * once the problem has been fixed.
 	 */
diff --git a/include/linux/sched/task.h b/include/linux/sched/task.h
index 38359071236a..bba06befbff5 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched/task.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched/task.h
@@ -103,6 +103,19 @@ struct mm_struct *copy_init_mm(void);
 extern pid_t kernel_thread(int (*fn)(void *), void *arg, unsigned long flags);
 extern long kernel_wait4(pid_t, int __user *, int, struct rusage *);
 
+/* Only add helpers for actual use cases in the kernel */
+#define KWEXITSTATUS(status)		(__KWEXITSTATUS(status))
+#define KWIFEXITED(status)		(__KWIFEXITED(status))
+
+/* Nonzero if STATUS indicates normal termination.  */
+#define __KWIFEXITED(status)     (__KWTERMSIG(status) == 0)
+
+/* If KWIFEXITED(STATUS), the low-order 8 bits of the status.  */
+#define __KWEXITSTATUS(status)   (((status) & 0xff00) >> 8)
+
+/* If KWIFSIGNALED(STATUS), the terminating signal.  */
+#define __KWTERMSIG(status)      ((status) & 0x7f)
+
 extern void free_task(struct task_struct *tsk);
 
 /* sched_exec is called by processes performing an exec */
diff --git a/kernel/umh.c b/kernel/umh.c
index 79f139a7ca03..f81e8698e36e 100644
--- a/kernel/umh.c
+++ b/kernel/umh.c
@@ -154,8 +154,8 @@ static void call_usermodehelper_exec_sync(struct subprocess_info *sub_info)
 		 * the real error code is already in sub_info->retval or
 		 * sub_info->retval is 0 anyway, so don't mess with it then.
 		 */
-		if (ret)
-			sub_info->retval = ret;
+		if (KWIFEXITED(ret))
+			sub_info->retval = KWEXITSTATUS(ret);
 	}
 
 	/* Restore default kernel sig handler */
diff --git a/net/bridge/br_stp_if.c b/net/bridge/br_stp_if.c
index ba55851fe132..bdd94b45396b 100644
--- a/net/bridge/br_stp_if.c
+++ b/net/bridge/br_stp_if.c
@@ -133,14 +133,8 @@ static int br_stp_call_user(struct net_bridge *br, char *arg)
 
 	/* call userspace STP and report program errors */
 	rc = call_usermodehelper(BR_STP_PROG, argv, envp, UMH_WAIT_PROC);
-	if (rc > 0) {
-		if (rc & 0xff)
-			br_debug(br, BR_STP_PROG " received signal %d\n",
-				 rc & 0x7f);
-		else
-			br_debug(br, BR_STP_PROG " exited with code %d\n",
-				 (rc >> 8) & 0xff);
-	}
+	if (rc != 0)
+		br_debug(br, BR_STP_PROG " failed with exit code %d\n", rc);
 
 	return rc;
 }
diff --git a/security/keys/request_key.c b/security/keys/request_key.c
index e1b9f1a80676..ff462f3d46ca 100644
--- a/security/keys/request_key.c
+++ b/security/keys/request_key.c
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ static int call_sbin_request_key(struct key *authkey, void *aux)
 	ret = call_usermodehelper_keys(request_key, argv, envp, keyring,
 				       UMH_WAIT_PROC);
 	kdebug("usermode -> 0x%x", ret);
-	if (ret >= 0) {
+	if (ret != 0) {
 		/* ret is the exit/wait code */
 		if (test_bit(KEY_FLAG_USER_CONSTRUCT, &key->flags) ||
 		    key_validate(key) < 0)
