diff --git a/drivers/irqchip/irq-sun4i.c b/drivers/irqchip/irq-sun4i.c
index 15999551ff7f..7ae85ec61e56 100644
--- a/drivers/irqchip/irq-sun4i.c
+++ b/drivers/irqchip/irq-sun4i.c
@@ -140,10 +140,24 @@ static void __exception_irq_entry sun4i_handle_irq(struct pt_regs *regs)
 {
 	u32 irq, hwirq;
 
+	/*
+	 * hwirq == 0 can mean one of 3 things:
+	 * 1) no more irqs pending
+	 * 2) irq 0 pending
+	 * 3) spurious irq
+	 * So if we immediately get a reading of 0, check the irq-pending reg
+	 * to differentiate between 2 and 3. We only do this once to avoid
+	 * the extra check in the common case of 1 hapening after having
+	 * read the vector-reg once.
+	 */
 	hwirq = readl(sun4i_irq_base + SUN4I_IRQ_VECTOR_REG) >> 2;
-	while (hwirq != 0) {
+	if (hwirq == 0 &&
+		  !(readl(sun4i_irq_base + SUN4I_IRQ_PENDING_REG(0)) & BIT(0)))
+		return;
+
+	do {
 		irq = irq_find_mapping(sun4i_irq_domain, hwirq);
 		handle_IRQ(irq, regs);
 		hwirq = readl(sun4i_irq_base + SUN4I_IRQ_VECTOR_REG) >> 2;
-	}
+	} while (hwirq != 0);
 }