diff --git a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
index bce885dc234b..9cf240afe81e 100644
--- a/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
+++ b/drivers/net/virtio_net.c
@@ -1956,13 +1956,6 @@ static struct sk_buff *receive_small(struct net_device *dev,
 	 */
 	buf -= VIRTNET_RX_PAD + xdp_headroom;
 
-	if (rq->use_page_pool_dma) {
-		int offset = buf - page_address(page) +
-			     VIRTNET_RX_PAD + xdp_headroom;
-
-		page_pool_dma_sync_for_cpu(rq->page_pool, page, offset, len);
-	}
-
 	len -= vi->hdr_len;
 	u64_stats_add(&stats->bytes, len);
 
@@ -2398,9 +2391,6 @@ static struct sk_buff *receive_mergeable(struct net_device *dev,
 
 	head_skb = NULL;
 
-	if (rq->use_page_pool_dma)
-		page_pool_dma_sync_for_cpu(rq->page_pool, page, offset, len);
-
 	u64_stats_add(&stats->bytes, len - vi->hdr_len);
 
 	if (check_mergeable_len(dev, ctx, len))
@@ -2563,6 +2553,16 @@ static void receive_buf(struct virtnet_info *vi, struct receive_queue *rq,
 		return;
 	}
 
+	/* Sync the memory before touching anything through buf,
+	 * unless virtio core did it already.
+	 */
+	if (rq->use_page_pool_dma) {
+		struct page *page = virt_to_head_page(buf);
+		int offset = buf - page_address(page);
+
+		page_pool_dma_sync_for_cpu(rq->page_pool, page, offset, len);
+	}
+
 	/* About the flags below:
 	 * 1. Save the flags early, as the XDP program might overwrite them.
 	 * These flags ensure packets marked as VIRTIO_NET_HDR_F_DATA_VALID