diff --git a/include/linux/memcontrol.h b/include/linux/memcontrol.h
index b327857a1e7e..9d5ceeba3b31 100644
--- a/include/linux/memcontrol.h
+++ b/include/linux/memcontrol.h
@@ -50,12 +50,6 @@ enum memcg_memory_event {
 	MEMCG_NR_MEMORY_EVENTS,
 };
 
-enum mem_cgroup_protection {
-	MEMCG_PROT_NONE,
-	MEMCG_PROT_LOW,
-	MEMCG_PROT_MIN,
-};
-
 struct mem_cgroup_reclaim_cookie {
 	pg_data_t *pgdat;
 	unsigned int generation;
@@ -344,19 +338,6 @@ static inline bool mem_cgroup_disabled(void)
 	return !cgroup_subsys_enabled(memory_cgrp_subsys);
 }
 
-static inline unsigned long mem_cgroup_protection(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
-						  bool in_low_reclaim)
-{
-	if (mem_cgroup_disabled())
-		return 0;
-
-	if (in_low_reclaim)
-		return READ_ONCE(memcg->memory.emin);
-
-	return max(READ_ONCE(memcg->memory.emin),
-		   READ_ONCE(memcg->memory.elow));
-}
-
 int mem_cgroup_try_charge(struct page *page, struct mm_struct *mm,
 			  gfp_t gfp_mask, struct mem_cgroup **memcgp,
 			  bool compound);
@@ -832,12 +813,6 @@ static inline void memcg_memory_event_mm(struct mm_struct *mm,
 {
 }
 
-static inline unsigned long mem_cgroup_protection(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
-						  bool in_low_reclaim)
-{
-	return 0;
-}
-
 static inline int mem_cgroup_try_charge(struct page *page, struct mm_struct *mm,
 					gfp_t gfp_mask,
 					struct mem_cgroup **memcgp,
diff --git a/mm/internal.h b/mm/internal.h
index a0b3bdd933b9..10c762a79c0c 100644
--- a/mm/internal.h
+++ b/mm/internal.h
@@ -271,6 +271,9 @@ struct scan_control {
 	 */
 	struct mem_cgroup *target_mem_cgroup;
 
+	/* Memcg protection in this reclaim context */
+	unsigned long protection;
+
 	/* Can active pages be deactivated as part of reclaim? */
 #define DEACTIVATE_ANON 1
 #define DEACTIVATE_FILE 2
@@ -338,6 +341,20 @@ struct scan_control {
 	struct reclaim_state reclaim_state;
 };
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG
+bool mem_cgroup_protected(struct mem_cgroup *target,
+			  struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
+			  struct scan_control *sc);
+
+#else
+static inline bool mem_cgroup_protected(struct mem_cgroup *target,
+					struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
+					struct scan_control *sc)
+{
+	return false;
+}
+#endif
+
 /*
  * This function returns the order of a free page in the buddy system. In
  * general, page_zone(page)->lock must be held by the caller to prevent the
diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index 51dab7f2e714..f2f191898f2b 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -6372,35 +6372,30 @@ static unsigned long effective_protection(unsigned long usage,
  * WARNING: This function is not stateless! It can only be used as part
  *          of a top-down tree iteration, not for isolated queries.
  *
- * Returns one of the following:
- *   MEMCG_PROT_NONE: cgroup memory is not protected
- *   MEMCG_PROT_LOW: cgroup memory is protected as long there is
- *     an unprotected supply of reclaimable memory from other cgroups.
- *   MEMCG_PROT_MIN: cgroup memory is protected
  */
-enum mem_cgroup_protection mem_cgroup_protected(struct mem_cgroup *target,
-						struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
-						struct scan_control *sc)
+bool mem_cgroup_protected(struct mem_cgroup *target,
+			  struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
+			  struct scan_control *sc)
 {
 	unsigned long usage, parent_usage;
 	struct mem_cgroup *parent;
 
 	if (mem_cgroup_disabled())
-		return MEMCG_PROT_NONE;
+		return false;
 
 	if (!target)
 		target = root_mem_cgroup;
 	if (memcg == target)
-		return MEMCG_PROT_NONE;
+		return false;
 
 	usage = page_counter_read(&memcg->memory);
 	if (!usage)
-		return MEMCG_PROT_NONE;
+		return false;
 
 	parent = parent_mem_cgroup(memcg);
 	/* No parent means a non-hierarchical mode on v1 memcg */
 	if (!parent)
-		return MEMCG_PROT_NONE;
+		return false;
 
 	if (parent == target) {
 		memcg->memory.emin = READ_ONCE(memcg->memory.min);
@@ -6420,12 +6415,43 @@ enum mem_cgroup_protection mem_cgroup_protected(struct mem_cgroup *target,
 			atomic_long_read(&parent->memory.children_low_usage)));
 
 out:
+	/*
+	 * Hard protection.
+	 * If there is no reclaimable memory, OOM.
+	 */
 	if (usage <= memcg->memory.emin)
-		return MEMCG_PROT_MIN;
-	else if (usage <= memcg->memory.elow)
-		return MEMCG_PROT_LOW;
+		return true;
+
+	/* The protection takes effect when false is returned. */
+	if (sc->memcg_low_reclaim)
+		sc->protection = memcg->memory.emin;
 	else
-		return MEMCG_PROT_NONE;
+		sc->protection = max(memcg->memory.emin, memcg->memory.elow);
+
+	if (usage <= memcg->memory.elow) {
+		/*
+		 * Soft protection.
+		 * Respect the protection only as long as there is an
+		 * unprotected supply of reclaimable memory from other
+		 * cgroups.
+		 */
+		if (!sc->memcg_low_reclaim) {
+			sc->memcg_low_skipped = 1;
+			return true;
+		}
+
+		memcg_memory_event(memcg, MEMCG_LOW);
+
+		return false;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * All protection thresholds breached. We may still choose to vary
+	 * the scan pressure applied based on by how much the cgroup in
+	 * question has exceeded its protection thresholds
+	 * (see get_scan_count).
+	 */
+	return false;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index 61c944e7f587..a81bf736ac11 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -2263,8 +2263,7 @@ static void get_scan_count(struct lruvec *lruvec, struct scan_control *sc,
 		unsigned long protection;
 
 		lruvec_size = lruvec_lru_size(lruvec, lru, sc->reclaim_idx);
-		protection = mem_cgroup_protection(memcg,
-						   sc->memcg_low_reclaim);
+		protection = sc->protection;
 
 		if (protection) {
 			/*
@@ -2551,36 +2550,10 @@ static void shrink_node_memcgs(pg_data_t *pgdat, struct scan_control *sc)
 		unsigned long reclaimed;
 		unsigned long scanned;
 
-		switch (mem_cgroup_protected(target_memcg, memcg, sc)) {
-		case MEMCG_PROT_MIN:
-			/*
-			 * Hard protection.
-			 * If there is no reclaimable memory, OOM.
-			 */
+		sc->protection = 0;
+
+		if (mem_cgroup_protected(target_memcg, memcg, sc))
 			continue;
-		case MEMCG_PROT_LOW:
-			/*
-			 * Soft protection.
-			 * Respect the protection only as long as
-			 * there is an unprotected supply
-			 * of reclaimable memory from other cgroups.
-			 */
-			if (!sc->memcg_low_reclaim) {
-				sc->memcg_low_skipped = 1;
-				continue;
-			}
-			memcg_memory_event(memcg, MEMCG_LOW);
-			break;
-		case MEMCG_PROT_NONE:
-			/*
-			 * All protection thresholds breached. We may
-			 * still choose to vary the scan pressure
-			 * applied based on by how much the cgroup in
-			 * question has exceeded its protection
-			 * thresholds (see get_scan_count).
-			 */
-			break;
-		}
 
 		reclaimed = sc->nr_reclaimed;
 		scanned = sc->nr_scanned;
