diff --git a/libcontainer/container_linux.go b/libcontainer/container_linux.go
index ee08c17e53c..3531487c641 100644
--- a/libcontainer/container_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/container_linux.go
@@ -369,18 +369,8 @@ func (c *linuxContainer) start(process *Process) error {
 		}
 		return newSystemErrorWithCause(err, "starting container process")
 	}
-	// generate a timestamp indicating when the container was started
-	c.created = time.Now().UTC()
-	if process.Init {
-		c.state = &createdState{
-			c: c,
-		}
-		state, err := c.updateState(parent)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-		c.initProcessStartTime = state.InitProcessStartTime
 
+	if process.Init {
 		if c.config.Hooks != nil {
 			s, err := c.currentOCIState()
 			if err != nil {
diff --git a/libcontainer/process_linux.go b/libcontainer/process_linux.go
index cb8c724a206..2365d4e0f29 100644
--- a/libcontainer/process_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/process_linux.go
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import (
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strconv"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/cgroups"
 	"github.com/opencontainers/runc/libcontainer/cgroups/fs2"
@@ -411,6 +412,28 @@ func (p *initProcess) start() (retErr error) {
 					}
 				}
 			}
+
+			// generate a timestamp indicating when the container was started
+			p.container.created = time.Now().UTC()
+			p.container.state = &createdState{
+				c: p.container,
+			}
+
+			// NOTE: If the procRun state has been synced and the
+			// runc-create process has been killed for some reason,
+			// the runc-init[2:stage] process will be leaky. And
+			// the runc command also fails to parse root directory
+			// because the container doesn't have state.json.
+			//
+			// In order to cleanup the runc-init[2:stage] by
+			// runc-delete/stop, we should store the status before
+			// procRun sync.
+			state, uerr := p.container.updateState(p)
+			if uerr != nil {
+				return newSystemErrorWithCause(err, "store init state")
+			}
+			p.container.initProcessStartTime = state.InitProcessStartTime
+
 			// Sync with child.
 			if err := writeSync(p.messageSockPair.parent, procRun); err != nil {
 				return newSystemErrorWithCause(err, "writing syncT 'run'")