diff --git a/mm/mempolicy.c b/mm/mempolicy.c
index ab51132547b8..659d5abf773a 100644
--- a/mm/mempolicy.c
+++ b/mm/mempolicy.c
@@ -2336,7 +2336,7 @@ bool __mpol_equal(struct mempolicy *a, struct mempolicy *b)
 		return false;
 	if (a->flags != b->flags)
 		return false;
-	if (mpol_store_user_nodemask(a))
+	if (mpol_store_user_nodemask(a) && mpol_store_user_nodemask(b))
 		if (!nodes_equal(a->w.user_nodemask, b->w.user_nodemask))
 			return false;