diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
index e20fd86a2a890461c5848427e27d7ce23212d566..888683f2ff3ee3ac3fc4a5c2eb454e58f4df1809 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_timer.c
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ void tcp_retransmit_timer(struct sock *sk)
 	 * linear-timeout retransmissions into a black hole
 	 */
 	if (sk->sk_state == TCP_ESTABLISHED &&
-	    (tp->thin_lto || net->ipv4.sysctl_tcp_thin_linear_timeouts) &&
+	    (tp->thin_lto || READ_ONCE(net->ipv4.sysctl_tcp_thin_linear_timeouts)) &&
 	    tcp_stream_is_thin(tp) &&
 	    icsk->icsk_retransmits <= TCP_THIN_LINEAR_RETRIES) {
 		icsk->icsk_backoff = 0;