diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index 3822ecbd8a1f..3918fc3eaef1 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -789,7 +789,7 @@ static void section_deactivate(unsigned long pfn, unsigned long nr_pages,
 			ms->usage = NULL;
 		}
 		memmap = sparse_decode_mem_map(ms->section_mem_map, section_nr);
-		ms->section_mem_map = sparse_encode_mem_map(NULL, section_nr);
+		ms->section_mem_map = (unsigned long)NULL;
 	}
 
 	if (section_is_early && memmap)