diff --git a/include/linux/sched/signal.h b/include/linux/sched/signal.h
index b3f88470cbb5..2f355c3c0d15 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched/signal.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched/signal.h
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ struct signal_struct {
 #ifdef CONFIG_POSIX_TIMERS
 
 	/* POSIX.1b Interval Timers */
-	int			posix_timer_id;
+	unsigned int		next_posix_timer_id;
 	struct list_head	posix_timers;
 
 	/* ITIMER_REAL timer for the process */
diff --git a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
index efe3873021a3..f3b8313475ac 100644
--- a/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
+++ b/kernel/time/posix-timers.c
@@ -138,25 +138,30 @@ static struct k_itimer *posix_timer_by_id(timer_t id)
 static int posix_timer_add(struct k_itimer *timer)
 {
 	struct signal_struct *sig = current->signal;
-	int first_free_id = sig->posix_timer_id;
 	struct hlist_head *head;
-	int ret = -ENOENT;
+	unsigned int cnt, id;
 
-	do {
+	/*
+	 * FIXME: Replace this by a per signal struct xarray once there is
+	 * a plan to handle the resulting CRIU regression gracefully.
+	 */
+	for (cnt = 0; cnt <= INT_MAX; cnt++) {
 		spin_lock(&hash_lock);
-		head = &posix_timers_hashtable[hash(sig, sig->posix_timer_id)];
-		if (!__posix_timers_find(head, sig, sig->posix_timer_id)) {
+		id = sig->next_posix_timer_id;
+
+		/* Write the next ID back. Clamp it to the positive space */
+		sig->next_posix_timer_id = (id + 1) & INT_MAX;
+
+		head = &posix_timers_hashtable[hash(sig, id)];
+		if (!__posix_timers_find(head, sig, id)) {
 			hlist_add_head_rcu(&timer->t_hash, head);
-			ret = sig->posix_timer_id;
+			spin_unlock(&hash_lock);
+			return id;
 		}
-		if (++sig->posix_timer_id < 0)
-			sig->posix_timer_id = 0;
-		if ((sig->posix_timer_id == first_free_id) && (ret == -ENOENT))
-			/* Loop over all possible ids completed */
-			ret = -EAGAIN;
 		spin_unlock(&hash_lock);
-	} while (ret == -ENOENT);
-	return ret;
+	}
+	/* POSIX return code when no timer ID could be allocated */
+	return -EAGAIN;
 }
 
 static inline void unlock_timer(struct k_itimer *timr, unsigned long flags)