diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index 8ce39867140b..e54c882d6789 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -97,8 +97,13 @@ struct scan_control {
 	/* Can pages be swapped as part of reclaim? */
 	unsigned int may_swap:1;
 
-	/* Can cgroups be reclaimed below their normal consumption range? */
-	unsigned int may_thrash:1;
+	/*
+	 * Cgroups are not reclaimed below their configured memory.low,
+	 * unless we threaten to OOM. If any cgroups are skipped due to
+	 * memory.low and nothing was reclaimed, go back for memory.low.
+	 */
+	unsigned int memcg_low_reclaim:1;
+	unsigned int memcg_low_skipped:1;
 
 	unsigned int hibernation_mode:1;
 
@@ -2512,8 +2517,10 @@ static bool shrink_node(pg_data_t *pgdat, struct scan_control *sc)
 			unsigned long scanned;
 
 			if (mem_cgroup_low(root, memcg)) {
-				if (!sc->may_thrash)
+				if (!sc->memcg_low_reclaim) {
+					sc->memcg_low_skipped = 1;
 					continue;
+				}
 				mem_cgroup_events(memcg, MEMCG_LOW, 1);
 			}
 
@@ -2768,9 +2775,10 @@ static unsigned long do_try_to_free_pages(struct zonelist *zonelist,
 		return 1;
 
 	/* Untapped cgroup reserves?  Don't OOM, retry. */
-	if (!sc->may_thrash) {
+	if (sc->memcg_low_skipped) {
 		sc->priority = initial_priority;
-		sc->may_thrash = 1;
+		sc->memcg_low_reclaim = 1;
+		sc->memcg_low_skipped = 0;
 		goto retry;
 	}