diff --git a/drivers/soc/qcom/hyp_core_ctl.c b/drivers/soc/qcom/hyp_core_ctl.c
index c5a00da88e9a..2e490c09b561 100644
--- a/drivers/soc/qcom/hyp_core_ctl.c
+++ b/drivers/soc/qcom/hyp_core_ctl.c
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ static inline int pause_cpu(int cpu)
 	cpumask_clear(&cpus_to_pause);
 	cpumask_set_cpu(cpu, &cpus_to_pause);
 
-	ret = walt_pause_cpus(&cpus_to_pause);
+	ret = walt_pause_cpus(&cpus_to_pause, PAUSE_HYP);
 
 	return ret;
 }
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ static inline int resume_cpu(int cpu)
 	cpumask_clear(&cpus_to_resume);
 	cpumask_set_cpu(cpu, &cpus_to_resume);
 
-	ret = walt_resume_cpus(&cpus_to_resume);
+	ret = walt_resume_cpus(&cpus_to_resume, PAUSE_HYP);
 
 	return ret;
 }
diff --git a/drivers/thermal/qcom/thermal_pause.c b/drivers/thermal/qcom/thermal_pause.c
index 0c926c220c94..5e367cb59cd4 100644
--- a/drivers/thermal/qcom/thermal_pause.c
+++ b/drivers/thermal/qcom/thermal_pause.c
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ static int thermal_pause_work(struct thermal_pause_cdev *thermal_pause_cdev)
 	pr_debug("Pause:%*pbl\n", cpumask_pr_args(&thermal_pause_cdev->cpu_mask));
 
 	mutex_unlock(&cpus_pause_lock);
-	ret = walt_pause_cpus(&cpus_to_pause);
+	ret = walt_pause_cpus(&cpus_to_pause, PAUSE_THERMAL);
 	mutex_lock(&cpus_pause_lock);
 
 	if (ret == 0) {
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ static int thermal_resume_work(struct thermal_pause_cdev *thermal_pause_cdev)
 	pr_debug("Unpause:%*pbl\n", cpumask_pr_args(&cpus_to_unpause));
 
 	mutex_unlock(&cpus_pause_lock);
-	ret = walt_resume_cpus(&cpus_to_unpause);
+	ret = walt_resume_cpus(&cpus_to_unpause, PAUSE_THERMAL);
 	mutex_lock(&cpus_pause_lock);
 
 	if (ret == 0) {
diff --git a/include/linux/sched/walt.h b/include/linux/sched/walt.h
index 9bb6ceada1a7..34f771ace147 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched/walt.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched/walt.h
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@
 #include <linux/spinlock_types.h>
 #include <linux/cpumask.h>
 
+enum pause_reason {
+	PAUSE_CORE_CTL	= 0x01,
+	PAUSE_THERMAL	= 0x02,
+	PAUSE_HYP	= 0x04,
+};
+
 #if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SCHED_WALT)
 
 #define MAX_CPUS_PER_CLUSTER 6
@@ -170,10 +176,11 @@ struct notifier_block;
 extern void core_ctl_notifier_register(struct notifier_block *n);
 extern void core_ctl_notifier_unregister(struct notifier_block *n);
 extern int core_ctl_set_boost(bool boost);
-extern int walt_pause_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus);
-extern int walt_resume_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus);
-extern int walt_halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus);
-extern int walt_start_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus);
+
+extern int walt_pause_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason);
+extern int walt_resume_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason);
+extern int walt_halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason);
+extern int walt_start_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason);
 #else
 static inline int sched_lpm_disallowed_time(int cpu, u64 *timeout)
 {
@@ -211,11 +218,11 @@ static inline void core_ctl_notifier_unregister(struct notifier_block *n)
 {
 }
 
-inline int walt_pause_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
+inline int walt_pause_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason)
 {
 	return 0;
 }
-inline int walt_resume_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
+inline int walt_resume_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason)
 {
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/kernel/sched/walt/core_ctl.c b/kernel/sched/walt/core_ctl.c
index 3bcb59d8f646..cdb123d90b8f 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/walt/core_ctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/walt/core_ctl.c
@@ -1163,7 +1163,7 @@ static void core_ctl_pause_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus_to_pause)
 	cpumask_copy(&saved_cpus, cpus_to_pause);
 
 	if (cpumask_any(cpus_to_pause) < nr_cpu_ids) {
-		if (walt_halt_cpus(cpus_to_pause) < 0)
+		if (walt_halt_cpus(cpus_to_pause, PAUSE_CORE_CTL) < 0)
 			pr_debug("core_ctl pause operation failed cpus=%*pbl paused_by_us=%*pbl\n",
 				 cpumask_pr_args(cpus_to_pause),
 				 cpumask_pr_args(&cpus_paused_by_us));
@@ -1192,7 +1192,7 @@ static void core_ctl_resume_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus_to_unpause)
 	cpumask_copy(&saved_cpus, cpus_to_unpause);
 
 	if (cpumask_any(cpus_to_unpause) < nr_cpu_ids) {
-		if (walt_start_cpus(cpus_to_unpause) < 0)
+		if (walt_start_cpus(cpus_to_unpause, PAUSE_CORE_CTL) < 0)
 			pr_debug("core_ctl resume operation failed cpus=%*pbl paused_by_us=%*pbl\n",
 				 cpumask_pr_args(cpus_to_unpause),
 				 cpumask_pr_args(&cpus_paused_by_us));
diff --git a/kernel/sched/walt/walt_halt.c b/kernel/sched/walt/walt_halt.c
index 346180098231..f61528ef7cb2 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/walt/walt_halt.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/walt/walt_halt.c
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ static DEFINE_RAW_SPINLOCK(halt_lock);
 
 struct halt_cpu_state {
 	u64		last_halt;
-	int		ref_count;
+	u8		reason;
 };
 
 static DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct halt_cpu_state, halt_state);
@@ -333,20 +333,18 @@ static int start_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-/* increment/decrement ref count for cpus in yield/halt mask */
-static void update_ref_counts(struct cpumask *cpus, bool halt)
+/* update reason for cpus in yield/halt mask */
+static void update_reasons(struct cpumask *cpus, bool halt, enum pause_reason reason)
 {
 	int cpu;
 	struct halt_cpu_state *halt_cpu_state;
 
 	for_each_cpu(cpu, cpus) {
 		halt_cpu_state = per_cpu_ptr(&halt_state, cpu);
-		if (halt) {
-			halt_cpu_state->ref_count++;
-		} else {
-			WARN_ON_ONCE(halt_cpu_state->ref_count == 0);
-			halt_cpu_state->ref_count--;
-		}
+		if (halt)
+			halt_cpu_state->reason |=  reason;
+		else
+			halt_cpu_state->reason &= ~reason;
 	}
 }
 
@@ -358,13 +356,13 @@ static void update_halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 
 	for_each_cpu(cpu, cpus) {
 		halt_cpu_state = per_cpu_ptr(&halt_state, cpu);
-		if (halt_cpu_state->ref_count)
+		if (halt_cpu_state->reason)
 			cpumask_clear_cpu(cpu, cpus);
 	}
 }
 
 /* cpus will be modified */
-int walt_halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
+int walt_halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason)
 {
 	int ret = 0;
 	cpumask_t requested_cpus;
@@ -378,7 +376,7 @@ int walt_halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 	update_halt_cpus(cpus);
 
 	if (cpumask_empty(cpus)) {
-		update_ref_counts(&requested_cpus, true);
+		update_reasons(&requested_cpus, true, reason);
 		goto unlock;
 	}
 
@@ -388,21 +386,21 @@ int walt_halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 		pr_debug("halt_cpus failure ret=%d cpus=%*pbl\n", ret,
 			 cpumask_pr_args(&requested_cpus));
 	else
-		update_ref_counts(&requested_cpus, true);
+		update_reasons(&requested_cpus, true, reason);
 unlock:
 	raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&halt_lock, flags);
 
 	return ret;
 }
 
-int walt_pause_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
+int walt_pause_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason)
 {
-	return walt_halt_cpus(cpus);
+	return walt_halt_cpus(cpus, reason);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(walt_pause_cpus);
 
 /* cpus will be modified */
-int walt_start_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
+int walt_start_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason)
 {
 	int ret = 0;
 	cpumask_t requested_cpus;
@@ -410,9 +408,9 @@ int walt_start_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 
 	raw_spin_lock_irqsave(&halt_lock, flags);
 	cpumask_copy(&requested_cpus, cpus);
-	update_ref_counts(&requested_cpus, false);
+	update_reasons(&requested_cpus, false, reason);
 
-	/* remove cpus that should still be halted, due to ref-counts */
+	/* remove cpus that should still be halted */
 	update_halt_cpus(cpus);
 
 	ret = start_cpus(cpus);
@@ -421,7 +419,7 @@ int walt_start_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 		pr_debug("halt_cpus failure ret=%d cpus=%*pbl\n", ret,
 			 cpumask_pr_args(&requested_cpus));
 		/* restore/increment ref counts in case of error */
-		update_ref_counts(&requested_cpus, true);
+		update_reasons(&requested_cpus, true, reason);
 	}
 
 	raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&halt_lock, flags);
@@ -429,9 +427,9 @@ int walt_start_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 	return ret;
 }
 
-int walt_resume_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
+int walt_resume_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus, enum pause_reason reason)
 {
-	return walt_start_cpus(cpus);
+	return walt_start_cpus(cpus, reason);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(walt_resume_cpus);