diff --git a/include/linux/cgroup.h b/include/linux/cgroup.h
index e2ffcdc26cb7..72154fb44fb5 100644
--- a/include/linux/cgroup.h
+++ b/include/linux/cgroup.h
@@ -457,6 +457,12 @@ static inline bool cgroup_sane_behavior(const struct cgroup *cgrp)
 	return cgrp->root->flags & CGRP_ROOT_SANE_BEHAVIOR;
 }
 
+/* no synchronization, the result can only be used as a hint */
+static inline bool cgroup_has_tasks(struct cgroup *cgrp)
+{
+	return !list_empty(&cgrp->cset_links);
+}
+
 /* returns ino associated with a cgroup, 0 indicates unmounted root */
 static inline ino_t cgroup_ino(struct cgroup *cgrp)
 {
@@ -516,8 +522,6 @@ int cgroup_rm_cftypes(struct cftype *cfts);
 
 bool cgroup_is_descendant(struct cgroup *cgrp, struct cgroup *ancestor);
 
-int cgroup_task_count(const struct cgroup *cgrp);
-
 /*
  * Control Group taskset, used to pass around set of tasks to cgroup_subsys
  * methods.
diff --git a/kernel/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup.c
index 2469699408bd..ec7746e5ded1 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup.c
@@ -2391,7 +2391,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(cgroup_add_cftypes);
  *
  * Return the number of tasks in the cgroup.
  */
-int cgroup_task_count(const struct cgroup *cgrp)
+static int cgroup_task_count(const struct cgroup *cgrp)
 {
 	int count = 0;
 	struct cgrp_cset_link *link;
diff --git a/kernel/cpuset.c b/kernel/cpuset.c
index e97a6e88d036..ae190b0a196a 100644
--- a/kernel/cpuset.c
+++ b/kernel/cpuset.c
@@ -467,7 +467,7 @@ static int validate_change(struct cpuset *cur, struct cpuset *trial)
 	 * be changed to have empty cpus_allowed or mems_allowed.
 	 */
 	ret = -ENOSPC;
-	if ((cgroup_task_count(cur->css.cgroup) || cur->attach_in_progress)) {
+	if ((cgroup_has_tasks(cur->css.cgroup) || cur->attach_in_progress)) {
 		if (!cpumask_empty(cur->cpus_allowed) &&
 		    cpumask_empty(trial->cpus_allowed))
 			goto out;
diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index c1c25494f7ae..d9c6ac1532e6 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -4958,7 +4958,7 @@ static int mem_cgroup_force_empty(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
 	struct cgroup *cgrp = memcg->css.cgroup;
 
 	/* returns EBUSY if there is a task or if we come here twice. */
-	if (cgroup_task_count(cgrp) || !list_empty(&cgrp->children))
+	if (cgroup_has_tasks(cgrp) || !list_empty(&cgrp->children))
 		return -EBUSY;
 
 	/* we call try-to-free pages for make this cgroup empty */
@@ -5140,7 +5140,7 @@ static int __memcg_activate_kmem(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
 	 * of course permitted.
 	 */
 	mutex_lock(&memcg_create_mutex);
-	if (cgroup_task_count(memcg->css.cgroup) || memcg_has_children(memcg))
+	if (cgroup_has_tasks(memcg->css.cgroup) || memcg_has_children(memcg))
 		err = -EBUSY;
 	mutex_unlock(&memcg_create_mutex);
 	if (err)