diff --git a/virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c b/virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c
index c813c20de7f3..90ee0b9a9a6a 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/guest_memfd.c
@@ -678,7 +678,7 @@ int kvm_gmem_prepare_memory_region(struct kvm *kvm, struct kvm_memory_slot *slot
 	 * kvm_gmem_bind() must occur on a new memslot.  Because the memslot
 	 * is not visible yet, kvm_gmem_get_pfn() is guaranteed to see the file.
 	 */
-	WRITE_ONCE(slot->gmem.file, file);
+	slot->gmem.file = file;
 	slot->gmem.pgoff = offset >> PAGE_SHIFT;
 	if (kvm_gmem_supports_mmap(inode))
 		slot->flags |= KVM_MEMSLOT_GMEM_ONLY;