Kernel panics during vmware-tools shutdown in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Issue

• Getting error: "Invalid argument" setting key "kernel.sched_rt_runtime_us" when trying to lower the value of
  kernel.sched_rt_runtime_us.
• A VMWare tools requested shutdown did not complete with a shutdown. Instead the kernel panicked. This caused an immediate reboot due to the "reboot on crash" settings, preventing the upgrade which was underway.

kernel BUG at kernel/sched_rt.c:474!
invalid opcode: 0000 [#1] SMP 
last sysfs file: /sys/devices/virtual/block/dm-0/dm/name
CPU 0 
Modules linked in: nls_utf8 nfs lockd fscache auth_rpcgss nfs_acl sunrpc authenc deflate zlib_deflate ctr 
camellia cast5 rmd160 crypto_null ccm serpent blowfish twofish_x86_64 twofish_common ecb xcbc cbc 
sha256_generic sha512_generic des_generic aesni_intel cryptd aes_x86_64 aes_generic tunnel4 
xfrm_ipcomp tunnel6 xt_sctp xt_comment ipt_addrtype sctp ipv6 libcrc32c ppdev parport_pc parport sg shpchp 
i2c_piix4 i2c_core ext4 mbcache jbd2 sr_mod cdrom sd_mod crc_t10dif pata_acpi ata_generic ata_piix 
pvscsi(U) vmxnet3(U) dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_mod [last unloaded: nf_conntrack]

 #2 [ffff88013bbd5920] oops_end at ffffffff81511680
 #3 [ffff88013bbd5950] die at ffffffff8100f19b
 #4 [ffff88013bbd5980] do_trap at ffffffff81510ee4
 #5 [ffff88013bbd59e0] do_invalid_op at ffffffff8100cdb5
 #6 [ffff88013bbd5a80] invalid_op at ffffffff8100be5b
    [exception RIP: __disable_runtime+529]
    RIP: ffffffff8105ece1  RSP: ffff88013bbd5b38  RFLAGS: 00010006
    RAX: 0000000000000000  RBX: 0000000005f5e100  RCX: 000000000000003c
    RDX: 0000000000000000  RSI: 0000000000000004  RDI: ffff880028216f38
    RBP: ffff88013bbd5b98   R8: ffff88013dc90a00   R9: 0000000000000000
    R10: 0000000000000001  R11: 0000000000000000  R12: ffff880028216888
    R13: ffffffff81e26c10  R14: ffff88013dcb0000  R15: ffff880028216f38
    ORIG_RAX: ffffffffffffffff  CS: 0010  SS: 0018
 #7 [ffff88013bbd5b30] __disable_runtime at ffffffff8105ecd8
 #8 [ffff88013bbd5ba0] rq_offline_rt at ffffffff8105ee0f
 #9 [ffff88013bbd5bc0] set_rq_offline at ffffffff810557c1
#10 [ffff88013bbd5be0] rq_attach_root at ffffffff8105a398
#11 [ffff88013bbd5c10] cpu_attach_domain at ffffffff81067cd9
#12 [ffff88013bbd5c80] partition_sched_domains at ffffffff81068b78
#13 [ffff88013bbd5d10] cpuset_cpu_inactive at ffffffff81068ec5
#14 [ffff88013bbd5d20] notifier_call_chain at ffffffff81513685
#15 [ffff88013bbd5d60] __raw_notifier_call_chain at ffffffff8109cbce
#16 [ffff88013bbd5d70] __cpu_notify at ffffffff81070230
#17 [ffff88013bbd5d80] _cpu_down at ffffffff814f44ba