diff --git a/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c b/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
index 23b31bc4bf94..d5fd61c83bac 100644
--- a/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
+++ b/mm/sparse-vmemmap.c
@@ -904,6 +904,7 @@ int __meminit sparse_add_section(int nid, unsigned long start_pfn,
 		page_init_poison(memmap, sizeof(struct page) * nr_pages);
 
 	__section_mark_present(ms, section_nr);
+	__highest_used_section_nr = max(section_nr, __highest_used_section_nr);
 
 	/* Align memmap to section boundary in the subsection case */
 	if (section_nr_to_pfn(section_nr) != start_pfn)
diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index bb89017254f4..a0f50ca5acf5 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@ static inline unsigned long first_present_section_nr(void)
 
 void __init sparse_sections_init(void)
 {
-	unsigned long pfn, start_pfn, end_pfn;
+	unsigned long pfn, start_pfn, end_pfn, section_nr;
 	int i, nid;
 
 	sparse_extreme_init();
@@ -187,9 +187,9 @@ void __init sparse_sections_init(void)
 		mminit_validate_memmodel_limits(&start_pfn, &end_pfn);
 
 		for (pfn = start_pfn; pfn < end_pfn; pfn += PAGES_PER_SECTION) {
-			unsigned long section_nr = pfn_to_section_nr(pfn);
 			struct mem_section *ms;
 
+			section_nr = pfn_to_section_nr(pfn);
 			sparse_index_init(section_nr, nid);
 			ms = __nr_to_section(section_nr);
 			if (ms->section_mem_map)
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ void __init sparse_sections_init(void)
 			__section_mark_present(ms, section_nr);
 		}
 	}
+	__highest_used_section_nr = section_nr;
 }
 #ifndef CONFIG_SPARSEMEM_VMEMMAP
 struct page __init *__populate_section_memmap(unsigned long pfn,
diff --git a/mm/sparse.h b/mm/sparse.h
index 242b7bab0013..c396d5c05cfc 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.h
+++ b/mm/sparse.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ static inline void sparse_init_one_section(struct mem_section *ms,
 	unsigned long coded_mem_map;
 
 	BUILD_BUG_ON(SECTION_MAP_LAST_BIT > PFN_SECTION_SHIFT);
+	VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(section_nr > __highest_used_section_nr);
 
 	/*
 	 * We encode the start PFN of the section into the mem_map such that
@@ -44,9 +45,6 @@ static inline void sparse_init_one_section(struct mem_section *ms,
 static inline void __section_mark_present(struct mem_section *ms,
 		unsigned long section_nr)
 {
-	if (section_nr > __highest_used_section_nr)
-		__highest_used_section_nr = section_nr;
-
 	ms->section_mem_map |= SECTION_MARKED_PRESENT;
 }