diff --git a/mm/mempool.c b/mm/mempool.c
index 85efab3da7204491fdcb3118bc2a4e0dedfa7d05..79bff63ecf274881d9afe840fd858bed12a37d4c 100644
--- a/mm/mempool.c
+++ b/mm/mempool.c
@@ -489,7 +489,7 @@ void mempool_free(void *element, mempool_t *pool)
 	 * ensures that there will be frees which return elements to the
 	 * pool waking up the waiters.
 	 */
-	if (unlikely(pool->curr_nr < pool->min_nr)) {
+	if (unlikely(READ_ONCE(pool->curr_nr) < pool->min_nr)) {
 		spin_lock_irqsave(&pool->lock, flags);
 		if (likely(pool->curr_nr < pool->min_nr)) {
 			add_element(pool, element);