diff --git a/kernel/sched/ext.c b/kernel/sched/ext.c
index cc5df32db8ff..8a2a90659c65 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/ext.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/ext.c
@@ -1495,11 +1495,13 @@ static void dispatch_enqueue(struct scx_sched *sch, struct rq *rq,
 			if (!(dsq->id & SCX_DSQ_FLAG_BUILTIN))
 				rcu_assign_pointer(dsq->first_task, p);
 		} else {
-			bool was_empty;
-
-			was_empty = list_empty(&dsq->list);
+			/*
+			 * dsq->list can contain parked BPF iterator cursors, so
+			 * list_empty() here isn't a reliable proxy for "no real
+			 * task in the DSQ". Test dsq->first_task directly.
+			 */
 			list_add_tail(&p->scx.dsq_list.node, &dsq->list);
-			if (was_empty && !(dsq->id & SCX_DSQ_FLAG_BUILTIN))
+			if (!dsq->first_task && !(dsq->id & SCX_DSQ_FLAG_BUILTIN))
 				rcu_assign_pointer(dsq->first_task, p);
 		}
 	}