diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index 8a571e80a103..307203301a2a 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -881,6 +881,17 @@ static long memcg_state_val_in_pages(int idx, long val)
 static inline struct mem_cgroup *
 get_non_dying_memcg_start(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, bool *rcu_locked)
 {
+	/*
+	 * Fast path: the caller holds a reference to @memcg, so reading
+	 * its CSS_DYING flag without the RCU lock is safe.  The RCU lock
+	 * is only needed to walk up to a non-dying ancestor, which
+	 * happens only while a memcg is actually being offlined.
+	 */
+	if (!memcg_is_dying(memcg)) {
+		*rcu_locked = false;
+		return memcg;
+	}
+
 	rcu_read_lock();
 	*rcu_locked = true;
 
@@ -892,6 +903,9 @@ get_non_dying_memcg_start(struct mem_cgroup *memcg, bool *rcu_locked)
 
 static inline void get_non_dying_memcg_end(bool rcu_locked)
 {
+	if (!rcu_locked)
+		return;
+
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 }