diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 41a4666f1519..a59281d64368 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -722,7 +722,8 @@ void perf_evlist__munmap(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 	zfree(&evlist->overwrite_mmap);
 }
 
-static struct perf_mmap *perf_evlist__alloc_mmap(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
+static struct perf_mmap *perf_evlist__alloc_mmap(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
+						 bool overwrite)
 {
 	int i;
 	struct perf_mmap *map;
@@ -736,6 +737,7 @@ static struct perf_mmap *perf_evlist__alloc_mmap(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 
 	for (i = 0; i < evlist->nr_mmaps; i++) {
 		map[i].fd = -1;
+		map[i].overwrite = overwrite;
 		/*
 		 * When the perf_mmap() call is made we grab one refcount, plus
 		 * one extra to let perf_mmap__consume() get the last
@@ -779,7 +781,7 @@ static int perf_evlist__mmap_per_evsel(struct perf_evlist *evlist, int idx,
 			maps = evlist->overwrite_mmap;
 
 			if (!maps) {
-				maps = perf_evlist__alloc_mmap(evlist);
+				maps = perf_evlist__alloc_mmap(evlist, true);
 				if (!maps)
 					return -1;
 				evlist->overwrite_mmap = maps;
@@ -1029,7 +1031,7 @@ int perf_evlist__mmap_ex(struct perf_evlist *evlist, unsigned int pages,
 	struct mmap_params mp;
 
 	if (!evlist->mmap)
-		evlist->mmap = perf_evlist__alloc_mmap(evlist);
+		evlist->mmap = perf_evlist__alloc_mmap(evlist, false);
 	if (!evlist->mmap)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/mmap.h b/tools/perf/util/mmap.h
index ec7d3a24e276..71137977af28 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/mmap.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/mmap.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ struct perf_mmap {
 	int		 fd;
 	refcount_t	 refcnt;
 	u64		 prev;
+	bool		 overwrite;
 	struct auxtrace_mmap auxtrace_mmap;
 	char		 event_copy[PERF_SAMPLE_MAX_SIZE] __aligned(8);
 };