diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 565e9e61bb4407..2e80a2b6daf3ba 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -165,13 +165,7 @@ DEFINE_PER_CPU(int, _numa_mem_);		/* Kernel "local memory" node */
 EXPORT_PER_CPU_SYMBOL(_numa_mem_);
 #endif
 
-/* work_structs for global per-cpu drains */
-struct pcpu_drain {
-	struct zone *zone;
-	struct work_struct work;
-};
 static DEFINE_MUTEX(pcpu_drain_mutex);
-static DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct pcpu_drain, pcpu_drain);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_GCC_PLUGIN_LATENT_ENTROPY
 volatile unsigned long latent_entropy __latent_entropy;
@@ -3101,9 +3095,6 @@ static int rmqueue_bulk(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order,
  * Called from the vmstat counter updater to drain pagesets of this
  * currently executing processor on remote nodes after they have
  * expired.
- *
- * Note that this function must be called with the thread pinned to
- * a single processor.
  */
 void drain_zone_pages(struct zone *zone, struct per_cpu_pages *pcp)
 {
@@ -3128,10 +3119,6 @@ void drain_zone_pages(struct zone *zone, struct per_cpu_pages *pcp)
 
 /*
  * Drain pcplists of the indicated processor and zone.
- *
- * The processor must either be the current processor and the
- * thread pinned to the current processor or a processor that
- * is not online.
  */
 static void drain_pages_zone(unsigned int cpu, struct zone *zone)
 {
@@ -3150,10 +3137,6 @@ static void drain_pages_zone(unsigned int cpu, struct zone *zone)
 
 /*
  * Drain pcplists of all zones on the indicated processor.
- *
- * The processor must either be the current processor and the
- * thread pinned to the current processor or a processor that
- * is not online.
  */
 static void drain_pages(unsigned int cpu)
 {
@@ -3166,9 +3149,6 @@ static void drain_pages(unsigned int cpu)
 
 /*
  * Spill all of this CPU's per-cpu pages back into the buddy allocator.
- *
- * The CPU has to be pinned. When zone parameter is non-NULL, spill just
- * the single zone's pages.
  */
 void drain_local_pages(struct zone *zone)
 {
@@ -3180,24 +3160,6 @@ void drain_local_pages(struct zone *zone)
 		drain_pages(cpu);
 }
 
-static void drain_local_pages_wq(struct work_struct *work)
-{
-	struct pcpu_drain *drain;
-
-	drain = container_of(work, struct pcpu_drain, work);
-
-	/*
-	 * drain_all_pages doesn't use proper cpu hotplug protection so
-	 * we can race with cpu offline when the WQ can move this from
-	 * a cpu pinned worker to an unbound one. We can operate on a different
-	 * cpu which is alright but we also have to make sure to not move to
-	 * a different one.
-	 */
-	migrate_disable();
-	drain_local_pages(drain->zone);
-	migrate_enable();
-}
-
 /*
  * The implementation of drain_all_pages(), exposing an extra parameter to
  * drain on all cpus.
@@ -3218,13 +3180,6 @@ static void __drain_all_pages(struct zone *zone, bool force_all_cpus)
 	 */
 	static cpumask_t cpus_with_pcps;
 
-	/*
-	 * Make sure nobody triggers this path before mm_percpu_wq is fully
-	 * initialized.
-	 */
-	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!mm_percpu_wq))
-		return;
-
 	/*
 	 * Do not drain if one is already in progress unless it's specific to
 	 * a zone. Such callers are primarily CMA and memory hotplug and need
@@ -3274,14 +3229,12 @@ static void __drain_all_pages(struct zone *zone, bool force_all_cpus)
 	}
 
 	for_each_cpu(cpu, &cpus_with_pcps) {
-		struct pcpu_drain *drain = per_cpu_ptr(&pcpu_drain, cpu);
-
-		drain->zone = zone;
-		INIT_WORK(&drain->work, drain_local_pages_wq);
-		queue_work_on(cpu, mm_percpu_wq, &drain->work);
+		if (zone) {
+			drain_pages_zone(cpu, zone);
+		} else {
+			drain_pages(cpu);
+		}
 	}
-	for_each_cpu(cpu, &cpus_with_pcps)
-		flush_work(&per_cpu_ptr(&pcpu_drain, cpu)->work);
 
 	mutex_unlock(&pcpu_drain_mutex);
 }
@@ -3290,8 +3243,6 @@ static void __drain_all_pages(struct zone *zone, bool force_all_cpus)
  * Spill all the per-cpu pages from all CPUs back into the buddy allocator.
  *
  * When zone parameter is non-NULL, spill just the single zone's pages.
- *
- * Note that this can be extremely slow as the draining happens in a workqueue.
  */
 void drain_all_pages(struct zone *zone)
 {