diff --git a/fs/notify/fsnotify.c b/fs/notify/fsnotify.c
index dd3fb0b17be7cc5d914275c6e83da49e7b8e3f48..d675e76251d368ed183fe42368bc4415f9c3184f 100644
--- a/fs/notify/fsnotify.c
+++ b/fs/notify/fsnotify.c
@@ -204,6 +204,16 @@ int fsnotify(struct inode *to_tell, __u32 mask, void *data, int data_is,
 	else
 		mnt = NULL;
 
+	/*
+	 * Optimization: srcu_read_lock() has a memory barrier which can
+	 * be expensive.  It protects walking the *_fsnotify_marks lists.
+	 * However, if we do not walk the lists, we do not have to do
+	 * SRCU because we have no references to any objects and do not
+	 * need SRCU to keep them "alive".
+	 */
+	if (hlist_empty(&to_tell->i_fsnotify_marks) &&
+	    (!mnt || hlist_empty(&mnt->mnt_fsnotify_marks)))
+		return 0;
 	/*
 	 * if this is a modify event we may need to clear the ignored masks
 	 * otherwise return if neither the inode nor the vfsmount care about