diff --git a/kernel/rcu/tree.c b/kernel/rcu/tree.c
index ed2dce3f0176..5f0510e08c5b 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/tree.c
+++ b/kernel/rcu/tree.c
@@ -3696,7 +3696,7 @@ kfree_rcu_shrink_count(struct shrinker *shrink, struct shrink_control *sc)
 		atomic_set(&krcp->backoff_page_cache_fill, 1);
 	}
 
-	return count;
+	return count == 0 ? SHRINK_EMPTY : count;
 }
 
 static unsigned long