diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_zswap.c b/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_zswap.c
index 5fe0cffb5575..49b36ee79160 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_zswap.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_zswap.c
@@ -120,6 +120,27 @@ static char *setup_test_group_1M(const char *root, const char *name)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
+/*
+ * Writeback is asynchronous; poll until at least one writeback has
+ * been recorded for @cg, or until @timeout_ms has elapsed.
+ */
+static long wait_for_writeback(const char *cg, int timeout_ms)
+{
+	long elapsed, count;
+	for (elapsed = 0; elapsed < timeout_ms; elapsed += 100) {
+		count = get_cg_wb_count(cg);
+
+		if (count < 0)
+			return -1;
+		if (count > 0)
+			return count;
+
+		usleep(100000);
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
 /*
  * Sanity test to check that pages are written into zswap.
  */
@@ -345,7 +366,10 @@ static int test_zswap_writeback_one(const char *cgroup, bool wb)
 		return -1;
 
 	/* Verify that zswap writeback occurred only if writeback was enabled */
-	zswpwb_after = get_cg_wb_count(cgroup);
+	if (wb)
+		zswpwb_after = wait_for_writeback(cgroup, 5000);
+	else
+		zswpwb_after = get_cg_wb_count(cgroup);
 	if (zswpwb_after < 0)
 		return -1;
 
@@ -476,7 +500,7 @@ static int test_no_invasive_cgroup_shrink(const char *root)
 	}
 
 	/* Verify that only zswapped memory from gwb_group has been written back */
-	if (get_cg_wb_count(wb_group) > 0 && get_cg_wb_count(zw_group) == 0)
+	if (wait_for_writeback(wb_group, 5000) > 0 && get_cg_wb_count(zw_group) == 0)
 		ret = KSFT_PASS;
 out:
 	cg_enter_current(root);