diff --git a/mm/z3fold.c b/mm/z3fold.c
index 18feaa0bc537..6c2325cd3fba 100644
--- a/mm/z3fold.c
+++ b/mm/z3fold.c
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ struct z3fold_buddy_slots {
 	 * be enough slots to hold all possible variants
 	 */
 	unsigned long slot[BUDDY_MASK + 1];
-	unsigned long pool; /* back link + flags */
+	unsigned long pool; /* back link */
 	rwlock_t lock;
 };
 #define HANDLE_FLAG_MASK	(0x03)
@@ -181,13 +181,6 @@ enum z3fold_page_flags {
 	PAGE_CLAIMED, /* by either reclaim or free */
 };
 
-/*
- * handle flags, go under HANDLE_FLAG_MASK
- */
-enum z3fold_handle_flags {
-	HANDLES_ORPHANED = 0,
-};
-
 /*
  * Forward declarations
  */
@@ -303,10 +296,9 @@ static inline void put_z3fold_header(struct z3fold_header *zhdr)
 		z3fold_page_unlock(zhdr);
 }
 
-static inline void free_handle(unsigned long handle)
+static inline void free_handle(unsigned long handle, struct z3fold_header *zhdr)
 {
 	struct z3fold_buddy_slots *slots;
-	struct z3fold_header *zhdr;
 	int i;
 	bool is_free;
 
@@ -316,22 +308,13 @@ static inline void free_handle(unsigned long handle)
 	if (WARN_ON(*(unsigned long *)handle == 0))
 		return;
 
-	zhdr = handle_to_z3fold_header(handle);
 	slots = handle_to_slots(handle);
 	write_lock(&slots->lock);
 	*(unsigned long *)handle = 0;
-	if (zhdr->slots == slots) {
-		write_unlock(&slots->lock);
-		return; /* simple case, nothing else to do */
-	}
+	if (zhdr->slots != slots)
+		zhdr->foreign_handles--;
 
-	/* we are freeing a foreign handle if we are here */
-	zhdr->foreign_handles--;
 	is_free = true;
-	if (!test_bit(HANDLES_ORPHANED, &slots->pool)) {
-		write_unlock(&slots->lock);
-		return;
-	}
 	for (i = 0; i <= BUDDY_MASK; i++) {
 		if (slots->slot[i]) {
 			is_free = false;
@@ -343,6 +326,8 @@ static inline void free_handle(unsigned long handle)
 	if (is_free) {
 		struct z3fold_pool *pool = slots_to_pool(slots);
 
+		if (zhdr->slots == slots)
+			zhdr->slots = NULL;
 		kmem_cache_free(pool->c_handle, slots);
 	}
 }
@@ -525,8 +510,6 @@ static void __release_z3fold_page(struct z3fold_header *zhdr, bool locked)
 {
 	struct page *page = virt_to_page(zhdr);
 	struct z3fold_pool *pool = zhdr_to_pool(zhdr);
-	bool is_free = true;
-	int i;
 
 	WARN_ON(!list_empty(&zhdr->buddy));
 	set_bit(PAGE_STALE, &page->private);
@@ -536,21 +519,6 @@ static void __release_z3fold_page(struct z3fold_header *zhdr, bool locked)
 		list_del_init(&page->lru);
 	spin_unlock(&pool->lock);
 
-	/* If there are no foreign handles, free the handles array */
-	read_lock(&zhdr->slots->lock);
-	for (i = 0; i <= BUDDY_MASK; i++) {
-		if (zhdr->slots->slot[i]) {
-			is_free = false;
-			break;
-		}
-	}
-	if (!is_free)
-		set_bit(HANDLES_ORPHANED, &zhdr->slots->pool);
-	read_unlock(&zhdr->slots->lock);
-
-	if (is_free)
-		kmem_cache_free(pool->c_handle, zhdr->slots);
-
 	if (locked)
 		z3fold_page_unlock(zhdr);
 
@@ -973,6 +941,9 @@ static inline struct z3fold_header *__z3fold_alloc(struct z3fold_pool *pool,
 		}
 	}
 
+	if (zhdr && !zhdr->slots)
+		zhdr->slots = alloc_slots(pool,
+					can_sleep ? GFP_NOIO : GFP_ATOMIC);
 	return zhdr;
 }
 
@@ -1270,7 +1241,7 @@ static void z3fold_free(struct z3fold_pool *pool, unsigned long handle)
 	}
 
 	if (!page_claimed)
-		free_handle(handle);
+		free_handle(handle, zhdr);
 	if (kref_put(&zhdr->refcount, release_z3fold_page_locked_list)) {
 		atomic64_dec(&pool->pages_nr);
 		return;
@@ -1429,19 +1400,19 @@ static int z3fold_reclaim_page(struct z3fold_pool *pool, unsigned int retries)
 			ret = pool->ops->evict(pool, middle_handle);
 			if (ret)
 				goto next;
-			free_handle(middle_handle);
+			free_handle(middle_handle, zhdr);
 		}
 		if (first_handle) {
 			ret = pool->ops->evict(pool, first_handle);
 			if (ret)
 				goto next;
-			free_handle(first_handle);
+			free_handle(first_handle, zhdr);
 		}
 		if (last_handle) {
 			ret = pool->ops->evict(pool, last_handle);
 			if (ret)
 				goto next;
-			free_handle(last_handle);
+			free_handle(last_handle, zhdr);
 		}
 next:
 		if (test_bit(PAGE_HEADLESS, &page->private)) {