diff --git a/mm/hugetlb.c b/mm/hugetlb.c
index b34f50156f7ec29cdfa23006be920afac8954a2b..f8ca7cca3c1ab0f9dea7b67081f55bbdd0e2d0f0 100644
--- a/mm/hugetlb.c
+++ b/mm/hugetlb.c
@@ -3475,7 +3475,6 @@ static int demote_pool_huge_page(struct hstate *h, nodemask_t *nodes_allowed)
 {
 	int nr_nodes, node;
 	struct page *page;
-	int rc = 0;
 
 	lockdep_assert_held(&hugetlb_lock);
 
@@ -3486,15 +3485,19 @@ static int demote_pool_huge_page(struct hstate *h, nodemask_t *nodes_allowed)
 	}
 
 	for_each_node_mask_to_free(h, nr_nodes, node, nodes_allowed) {
-		if (!list_empty(&h->hugepage_freelists[node])) {
-			page = list_entry(h->hugepage_freelists[node].next,
-					struct page, lru);
-			rc = demote_free_huge_page(h, page);
-			break;
+		list_for_each_entry(page, &h->hugepage_freelists[node], lru) {
+			if (PageHWPoison(page))
+				continue;
+
+			return demote_free_huge_page(h, page);
 		}
 	}
 
-	return rc;
+	/*
+	 * Only way to get here is if all pages on free lists are poisoned.
+	 * Return -EBUSY so that caller will not retry.
+	 */
+	return -EBUSY;
 }
 
 #define HSTATE_ATTR_RO(_name) \