diff --git a/include/linux/hugetlb.h b/include/linux/hugetlb.h
index 251233c1494d..d01cc972a1d9 100644
--- a/include/linux/hugetlb.h
+++ b/include/linux/hugetlb.h
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@ struct hugepage_subpool *hugepage_new_subpool(long nr_blocks);
 void hugepage_put_subpool(struct hugepage_subpool *spool);
 
 int PageHuge(struct page *page);
-int PageHeadHuge(struct page *page_head);
 
 void reset_vma_resv_huge_pages(struct vm_area_struct *vma);
 int hugetlb_sysctl_handler(struct ctl_table *, int, void __user *, size_t *, loff_t *);
@@ -104,11 +103,6 @@ static inline int PageHuge(struct page *page)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static inline int PageHeadHuge(struct page *page_head)
-{
-	return 0;
-}
-
 static inline void reset_vma_resv_huge_pages(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 {
 }
diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index 9fac6dd69b11..f95c71b7c1fd 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -414,15 +414,45 @@ static inline int page_count(struct page *page)
 	return atomic_read(&compound_head(page)->_count);
 }
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE
+extern int PageHeadHuge(struct page *page_head);
+#else /* CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE */
+static inline int PageHeadHuge(struct page *page_head)
+{
+	return 0;
+}
+#endif /* CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE */
+
+static inline bool __compound_tail_refcounted(struct page *page)
+{
+	return !PageSlab(page) && !PageHeadHuge(page);
+}
+
+/*
+ * This takes a head page as parameter and tells if the
+ * tail page reference counting can be skipped.
+ *
+ * For this to be safe, PageSlab and PageHeadHuge must remain true on
+ * any given page where they return true here, until all tail pins
+ * have been released.
+ */
+static inline bool compound_tail_refcounted(struct page *page)
+{
+	VM_BUG_ON(!PageHead(page));
+	return __compound_tail_refcounted(page);
+}
+
 static inline void get_huge_page_tail(struct page *page)
 {
 	/*
 	 * __split_huge_page_refcount() cannot run
 	 * from under us.
+	 * In turn no need of compound_trans_head here.
 	 */
 	VM_BUG_ON(page_mapcount(page) < 0);
 	VM_BUG_ON(atomic_read(&page->_count) != 0);
-	atomic_inc(&page->_mapcount);
+	if (compound_tail_refcounted(compound_head(page)))
+		atomic_inc(&page->_mapcount);
 }
 
 extern bool __get_page_tail(struct page *page);
diff --git a/mm/internal.h b/mm/internal.h
index 684f7aa9692a..a85a3ab1f7ef 100644
--- a/mm/internal.h
+++ b/mm/internal.h
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ static inline void __get_page_tail_foll(struct page *page,
 	VM_BUG_ON(page_mapcount(page) < 0);
 	if (get_page_head)
 		atomic_inc(&page->first_page->_count);
-	atomic_inc(&page->_mapcount);
+	if (compound_tail_refcounted(page->first_page))
+		atomic_inc(&page->_mapcount);
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/mm/swap.c b/mm/swap.c
index e2757fbb04ea..bba4aa5bf686 100644
--- a/mm/swap.c
+++ b/mm/swap.c
@@ -88,8 +88,9 @@ static void put_compound_page(struct page *page)
 
 		/*
 		 * THP can not break up slab pages so avoid taking
-		 * compound_lock(). Slab performs non-atomic bit ops
-		 * on page->flags for better performance. In
+		 * compound_lock() and skip the tail page refcounting
+		 * (in _mapcount) too. Slab performs non-atomic bit
+		 * ops on page->flags for better performance. In
 		 * particular slab_unlock() in slub used to be a hot
 		 * path. It is still hot on arches that do not support
 		 * this_cpu_cmpxchg_double().
@@ -102,7 +103,7 @@ static void put_compound_page(struct page *page)
 		 * PageTail clear after smp_rmb() and we'll treat it
 		 * as a single page.
 		 */
-		if (PageSlab(page_head) || PageHeadHuge(page_head)) {
+		if (!__compound_tail_refcounted(page_head)) {
 			/*
 			 * If "page" is a THP tail, we must read the tail page
 			 * flags after the head page flags. The
@@ -117,10 +118,30 @@ static void put_compound_page(struct page *page)
 				 * cannot race here.
 				 */
 				VM_BUG_ON(!PageHead(page_head));
-				VM_BUG_ON(page_mapcount(page) <= 0);
-				atomic_dec(&page->_mapcount);
-				if (put_page_testzero(page_head))
+				VM_BUG_ON(page_mapcount(page) != 0);
+				if (put_page_testzero(page_head)) {
+					/*
+					 * If this is the tail of a
+					 * slab compound page, the
+					 * tail pin must not be the
+					 * last reference held on the
+					 * page, because the PG_slab
+					 * cannot be cleared before
+					 * all tail pins (which skips
+					 * the _mapcount tail
+					 * refcounting) have been
+					 * released. For hugetlbfs the
+					 * tail pin may be the last
+					 * reference on the page
+					 * instead, because
+					 * PageHeadHuge will not go
+					 * away until the compound
+					 * page enters the buddy
+					 * allocator.
+					 */
+					VM_BUG_ON(PageSlab(page_head));
 					__put_compound_page(page_head);
+				}
 				return;
 			} else
 				/*