diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mqueue/mq_perf_tests.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mqueue/mq_perf_tests.c
index b019e0b8221c..84fda3b49073 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mqueue/mq_perf_tests.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mqueue/mq_perf_tests.c
@@ -180,6 +180,9 @@ void shutdown(int exit_val, char *err_cause, int line_no)
 	if (in_shutdown++)
 		return;
 
+	/* Free the cpu_set allocated using CPU_ALLOC in main function */
+	CPU_FREE(cpu_set);
+
 	for (i = 0; i < num_cpus_to_pin; i++)
 		if (cpu_threads[i]) {
 			pthread_kill(cpu_threads[i], SIGUSR1);
@@ -551,6 +554,12 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		perror("sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN)");
 		exit(1);
 	}
+
+	if (getuid() != 0)
+		ksft_exit_skip("Not running as root, but almost all tests "
+			"require root in order to modify\nsystem settings.  "
+			"Exiting.\n");
+
 	cpus_online = min(MAX_CPUS, sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN));
 	cpu_set = CPU_ALLOC(cpus_online);
 	if (cpu_set == NULL) {
@@ -589,7 +598,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 						cpu_set)) {
 					fprintf(stderr, "Any given CPU may "
 						"only be given once.\n");
-					exit(1);
+					goto err_code;
 				} else
 					CPU_SET_S(cpus_to_pin[cpu],
 						  cpu_set_size, cpu_set);
@@ -607,7 +616,7 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 				queue_path = malloc(strlen(option) + 2);
 				if (!queue_path) {
 					perror("malloc()");
-					exit(1);
+					goto err_code;
 				}
 				queue_path[0] = '/';
 				queue_path[1] = 0;
@@ -622,17 +631,12 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		fprintf(stderr, "Must pass at least one CPU to continuous "
 			"mode.\n");
 		poptPrintUsage(popt_context, stderr, 0);
-		exit(1);
+		goto err_code;
 	} else if (!continuous_mode) {
 		num_cpus_to_pin = 1;
 		cpus_to_pin[0] = cpus_online - 1;
 	}
 
-	if (getuid() != 0)
-		ksft_exit_skip("Not running as root, but almost all tests "
-			"require root in order to modify\nsystem settings.  "
-			"Exiting.\n");
-
 	max_msgs = fopen(MAX_MSGS, "r+");
 	max_msgsize = fopen(MAX_MSGSIZE, "r+");
 	if (!max_msgs)
@@ -740,4 +744,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			sleep(1);
 	}
 	shutdown(0, "", 0);
+
+err_code:
+	CPU_FREE(cpu_set);
+	exit(1);
+
 }