diff --git a/kernel/sched/fair.c b/kernel/sched/fair.c
index a2348deab7a3..2ae68f0e3bf5 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/fair.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/fair.c
@@ -2904,6 +2904,23 @@ static inline void cfs_rq_util_change(struct cfs_rq *cfs_rq)
 	}
 }
 
+/*
+ * Unsigned subtract and clamp on underflow.
+ *
+ * Explicitly do a load-store to ensure the intermediate value never hits
+ * memory. This allows lockless observations without ever seeing the negative
+ * values.
+ */
+#define sub_positive(_ptr, _val) do {				\
+	typeof(_ptr) ptr = (_ptr);				\
+	typeof(*ptr) val = (_val);				\
+	typeof(*ptr) res, var = READ_ONCE(*ptr);		\
+	res = var - val;					\
+	if (res > var)						\
+		res = 0;					\
+	WRITE_ONCE(*ptr, res);					\
+} while (0)
+
 /* Group cfs_rq's load_avg is used for task_h_load and update_cfs_share */
 static inline int
 update_cfs_rq_load_avg(u64 now, struct cfs_rq *cfs_rq, bool update_freq)
@@ -2913,15 +2930,15 @@ update_cfs_rq_load_avg(u64 now, struct cfs_rq *cfs_rq, bool update_freq)
 
 	if (atomic_long_read(&cfs_rq->removed_load_avg)) {
 		s64 r = atomic_long_xchg(&cfs_rq->removed_load_avg, 0);
-		sa->load_avg = max_t(long, sa->load_avg - r, 0);
-		sa->load_sum = max_t(s64, sa->load_sum - r * LOAD_AVG_MAX, 0);
+		sub_positive(&sa->load_avg, r);
+		sub_positive(&sa->load_sum, r * LOAD_AVG_MAX);
 		removed_load = 1;
 	}
 
 	if (atomic_long_read(&cfs_rq->removed_util_avg)) {
 		long r = atomic_long_xchg(&cfs_rq->removed_util_avg, 0);
-		sa->util_avg = max_t(long, sa->util_avg - r, 0);
-		sa->util_sum = max_t(s32, sa->util_sum - r * LOAD_AVG_MAX, 0);
+		sub_positive(&sa->util_avg, r);
+		sub_positive(&sa->util_sum, r * LOAD_AVG_MAX);
 		removed_util = 1;
 	}
 
@@ -2994,10 +3011,10 @@ static void detach_entity_load_avg(struct cfs_rq *cfs_rq, struct sched_entity *s
 			  &se->avg, se->on_rq * scale_load_down(se->load.weight),
 			  cfs_rq->curr == se, NULL);
 
-	cfs_rq->avg.load_avg = max_t(long, cfs_rq->avg.load_avg - se->avg.load_avg, 0);
-	cfs_rq->avg.load_sum = max_t(s64,  cfs_rq->avg.load_sum - se->avg.load_sum, 0);
-	cfs_rq->avg.util_avg = max_t(long, cfs_rq->avg.util_avg - se->avg.util_avg, 0);
-	cfs_rq->avg.util_sum = max_t(s32,  cfs_rq->avg.util_sum - se->avg.util_sum, 0);
+	sub_positive(&cfs_rq->avg.load_avg, se->avg.load_avg);
+	sub_positive(&cfs_rq->avg.load_sum, se->avg.load_sum);
+	sub_positive(&cfs_rq->avg.util_avg, se->avg.util_avg);
+	sub_positive(&cfs_rq->avg.util_sum, se->avg.util_sum);
 
 	cfs_rq_util_change(cfs_rq);
 }