diff --git a/mm/page_io.c b/mm/page_io.c
index 6c1c1828bb88..ff8c99ee3af7 100644
--- a/mm/page_io.c
+++ b/mm/page_io.c
@@ -382,7 +382,12 @@ void __swap_writepage(struct folio *folio, struct writeback_control *wbc)
 	 */
 	if (data_race(sis->flags & SWP_FS_OPS))
 		swap_writepage_fs(folio, wbc);
-	else if (sis->flags & SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO)
+	/*
+	 * ->flags can be updated non-atomicially (scan_swap_map_slots),
+	 * but that will never affect SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO, so the data_race
+	 * is safe.
+	 */
+	else if (data_race(sis->flags & SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO))
 		swap_writepage_bdev_sync(folio, wbc, sis);
 	else
 		swap_writepage_bdev_async(folio, wbc, sis);