diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/mem_encrypt_identity.c b/arch/x86/mm/mem_encrypt_identity.c
index 1f25201de0af..650d5a6cafc7 100644
--- a/arch/x86/mm/mem_encrypt_identity.c
+++ b/arch/x86/mm/mem_encrypt_identity.c
@@ -29,6 +29,15 @@
 #undef CONFIG_PARAVIRT
 #undef CONFIG_PARAVIRT_SPINLOCKS
 
+/*
+ * This code runs before CPU feature bits are set. By default, the
+ * pgtable_l5_enabled() function uses bit X86_FEATURE_LA57 to determine if
+ * 5-level paging is active, so that won't work here. USE_EARLY_PGTABLE_L5
+ * is provided to handle this situation and, instead, use a variable that
+ * has been set by the early boot code.
+ */
+#define USE_EARLY_PGTABLE_L5
+
 #include <linux/kernel.h>
 #include <linux/mm.h>
 #include <linux/mem_encrypt.h>