diff --git a/mm/memory_hotplug.c b/mm/memory_hotplug.c
index a23cb840a2a7..bf5883671e51 100644
--- a/mm/memory_hotplug.c
+++ b/mm/memory_hotplug.c
@@ -2293,6 +2293,22 @@ int remove_memory(u64 start, u64 size)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(remove_memory);
 
+static bool __check_sections_offline(unsigned long start_pfn,
+		unsigned long nr_pages)
+{
+	const unsigned long end_pfn = start_pfn + nr_pages;
+	unsigned long pfn, sec_nr;
+
+	for (pfn = start_pfn; pfn < end_pfn; pfn += PAGES_PER_SECTION) {
+		sec_nr = pfn_to_section_nr(pfn);
+
+		if (!valid_section_nr(sec_nr) || online_section_nr(sec_nr))
+			return false;
+	}
+
+	return true;
+}
+
 int remove_memory_subsection(u64 start, u64 size)
 {
 	if (size ==  memory_block_size_bytes())
@@ -2307,8 +2323,9 @@ int remove_memory_subsection(u64 start, u64 size)
 
 	mem_hotplug_begin();
 
-	if (test_pages_isolated(start, start + size, MEMORY_OFFLINE)) {
-		pr_err("%s: [%lx, %lx) PFNs are not isolated\n",
+	/* we cannot remove subsections that are invalid or online */
+	if(!__check_sections_offline(PHYS_PFN(start), size >> PAGE_SHIFT)) {
+		pr_err("%s: [%lx, %lx) sections are not offlined\n",
 			   __func__, start, start + size);
 		mem_hotplug_done();
 		return -EBUSY;