diff --git a/mm/sparse.c b/mm/sparse.c
index aadb7298dcef..65599e8bd636 100644
--- a/mm/sparse.c
+++ b/mm/sparse.c
@@ -781,6 +781,12 @@ static void section_deactivate(unsigned long pfn, unsigned long nr_pages,
 			ms->usage = NULL;
 		}
 		memmap = sparse_decode_mem_map(ms->section_mem_map, section_nr);
+		/*
+		 * Mark the section invalid so that valid_section()
+		 * return false. This prevents code from dereferencing
+		 * ms->usage array.
+		 */
+		ms->section_mem_map &= ~SECTION_HAS_MEM_MAP;
 	}
 
 	if (section_is_early && memmap)