diff --git a/lib/vhost/rte_vhost_user.c b/lib/vhost/rte_vhost_user.c
index 397be22576..059b5ace1f 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/rte_vhost_user.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/rte_vhost_user.c
@@ -47,6 +47,22 @@
 #include "spdk_internal/vhost_user.h"
 
 char g_vhost_user_dev_dirname[PATH_MAX] = "";
+sem_t g_dpdk_sem;
+
+static void __attribute__((constructor))
+_vhost_user_sem_init(void)
+{
+	if (sem_init(&g_dpdk_sem, 0, 0) != 0) {
+		SPDK_ERRLOG("Failed to initialize semaphore for rte_vhost pthread.\n");
+		abort();
+	}
+}
+
+static void __attribute__((destructor))
+_vhost_user_sem_destroy(void)
+{
+	sem_destroy(&g_dpdk_sem);
+}
 
 static inline void
 vhost_session_mem_region_calc(uint64_t *previous_start, uint64_t *start, uint64_t *end,
diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost.c b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
index 400c268662..97eddc000d 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -51,13 +51,6 @@ static struct spdk_thread *g_vhost_init_thread;
 
 static spdk_vhost_fini_cb g_fini_cpl_cb;
 
-/**
- * DPDK calls our callbacks synchronously but the work those callbacks
- * perform needs to be async. Luckily, all DPDK callbacks are called on
- * a DPDK-internal pthread, so we'll just wait on a semaphore in there.
- */
-static sem_t g_dpdk_sem;
-
 /** Return code for the current DPDK callback */
 static int g_dpdk_response;
 
@@ -1524,8 +1517,8 @@ spdk_vhost_init(spdk_vhost_init_cb init_cb)
 	if (g_vhost_user_dev_dirname[0] == '\0') {
 		if (getcwd(g_vhost_user_dev_dirname, sizeof(g_vhost_user_dev_dirname) - 1) == NULL) {
 			SPDK_ERRLOG("getcwd failed (%d): %s\n", errno, spdk_strerror(errno));
-			ret = -1;
-			goto out;
+			init_cb(-1);
+			return;
 		}
 
 		len = strlen(g_vhost_user_dev_dirname);
@@ -1535,18 +1528,10 @@ spdk_vhost_init(spdk_vhost_init_cb init_cb)
 		}
 	}
 
-	ret = sem_init(&g_dpdk_sem, 0, 0);
-	if (ret != 0) {
-		SPDK_ERRLOG("Failed to initialize semaphore for rte_vhost pthread.\n");
-		ret = -1;
-		goto out;
-	}
-
 	spdk_cpuset_zero(&g_vhost_core_mask);
 	SPDK_ENV_FOREACH_CORE(i) {
 		spdk_cpuset_set_cpu(&g_vhost_core_mask, i, true);
 	}
-out:
 	init_cb(ret);
 }
 
@@ -1565,9 +1550,6 @@ vhost_fini(void *arg1)
 	}
 	spdk_vhost_unlock();
 
-	/* All devices are removed now. */
-	sem_destroy(&g_dpdk_sem);
-
 	g_fini_cpl_cb();
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost_internal.h b/lib/vhost/vhost_internal.h
index d76227bfc8..b2068f6e9f 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost_internal.h
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost_internal.h
@@ -47,6 +47,13 @@
 
 extern bool g_packed_ring_recovery;
 
+/**
+ * DPDK calls our callbacks synchronously but the work those callbacks
+ * perform needs to be async. Luckily, all DPDK callbacks are called on
+ * a DPDK-internal pthread, so we'll just wait on a semaphore in there.
+ */
+extern sem_t g_dpdk_sem;
+
 #define SPDK_VHOST_MAX_VQUEUES	256
 #define SPDK_VHOST_MAX_VQ_SIZE	1024