diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index bfd01ae07660..da773302af70 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -258,8 +258,6 @@ void setup_initial_init_mm(void *start_code, void *end_code,
 struct vm_area_struct *vm_area_alloc(struct mm_struct *);
 struct vm_area_struct *vm_area_dup(struct vm_area_struct *);
 void vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *);
-/* Use only if VMA has no other users */
-void __vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *vma);
 
 #ifndef CONFIG_MMU
 extern struct rb_root nommu_region_tree;
diff --git a/include/linux/mm_types.h b/include/linux/mm_types.h
index 803f718c007c..a720f7383dd8 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm_types.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm_types.h
@@ -544,6 +544,12 @@ static inline void *folio_get_private(struct folio *folio)
 
 typedef unsigned long vm_flags_t;
 
+/*
+ * freeptr_t represents a SLUB freelist pointer, which might be encoded
+ * and not dereferenceable if CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_HARDENED is enabled.
+ */
+typedef struct { unsigned long v; } freeptr_t;
+
 /*
  * A region containing a mapping of a non-memory backed file under NOMMU
  * conditions.  These are held in a global tree and are pinned by the VMAs that
@@ -658,9 +664,7 @@ struct vm_area_struct {
 			unsigned long vm_start;
 			unsigned long vm_end;
 		};
-#ifdef CONFIG_PER_VMA_LOCK
-		struct rcu_head vm_rcu;	/* Used for deferred freeing. */
-#endif
+		freeptr_t vm_freeptr; /* Pointer used by SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU */
 	};
 
 	/*
diff --git a/include/linux/slab.h b/include/linux/slab.h
index 10a971c2bde3..681b685b6c4e 100644
--- a/include/linux/slab.h
+++ b/include/linux/slab.h
@@ -234,12 +234,6 @@ enum _slab_flag_bits {
 #define SLAB_NO_OBJ_EXT		__SLAB_FLAG_UNUSED
 #endif
 
-/*
- * freeptr_t represents a SLUB freelist pointer, which might be encoded
- * and not dereferenceable if CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_HARDENED is enabled.
- */
-typedef struct { unsigned long v; } freeptr_t;
-
 /*
  * ZERO_SIZE_PTR will be returned for zero sized kmalloc requests.
  *
diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index f1ddfc7b3b48..7affb9245f64 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -471,36 +471,16 @@ struct vm_area_struct *vm_area_dup(struct vm_area_struct *orig)
 	return new;
 }
 
-void __vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
+void vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 {
 #ifdef CONFIG_PER_VMA_LOCK
-	/* The vma should be detached while being destroyed. */
-	VM_BUG_ON_VMA(!is_vma_detached(vma), vma);
+	vma_ensure_detached(vma);
 #endif
 	vma_numab_state_free(vma);
 	free_anon_vma_name(vma);
 	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
 }
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_PER_VMA_LOCK
-static void vm_area_free_rcu_cb(struct rcu_head *head)
-{
-	struct vm_area_struct *vma = container_of(head, struct vm_area_struct,
-						  vm_rcu);
-
-	__vm_area_free(vma);
-}
-#endif
-
-void vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
-{
-#ifdef CONFIG_PER_VMA_LOCK
-	call_rcu(&vma->vm_rcu, vm_area_free_rcu_cb);
-#else
-	__vm_area_free(vma);
-#endif
-}
-
 static void account_kernel_stack(struct task_struct *tsk, int account)
 {
 	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_VMAP_STACK)) {
@@ -3147,6 +3127,11 @@ void __init mm_cache_init(void)
 
 void __init proc_caches_init(void)
 {
+	struct kmem_cache_args args = {
+		.use_freeptr_offset = true,
+		.freeptr_offset = offsetof(struct vm_area_struct, vm_freeptr),
+	};
+
 	sighand_cachep = kmem_cache_create("sighand_cache",
 			sizeof(struct sighand_struct), 0,
 			SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN|SLAB_PANIC|SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU|
@@ -3163,8 +3148,9 @@ void __init proc_caches_init(void)
 			sizeof(struct fs_struct), 0,
 			SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN|SLAB_PANIC|SLAB_ACCOUNT,
 			NULL);
-	vm_area_cachep = KMEM_CACHE(vm_area_struct,
-			SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN|SLAB_NO_MERGE|SLAB_PANIC|
+	vm_area_cachep = kmem_cache_create("vm_area_struct",
+			sizeof(struct vm_area_struct), &args,
+			SLAB_HWCACHE_ALIGN|SLAB_PANIC|SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU|
 			SLAB_ACCOUNT);
 	mmap_init();
 	nsproxy_cache_init();
diff --git a/mm/mmap.c b/mm/mmap.c
index df9154b15ef9..c848f6d645e9 100644
--- a/mm/mmap.c
+++ b/mm/mmap.c
@@ -1284,7 +1284,13 @@ void exit_mmap(struct mm_struct *mm)
 	do {
 		if (vma->vm_flags & VM_ACCOUNT)
 			nr_accounted += vma_pages(vma);
-		remove_vma(vma, /* unreachable = */ true);
+#ifdef CONFIG_PER_VMA_LOCK
+		if (!is_vma_detached(vma)) {
+			vma_start_write(vma);
+			vma_mark_detached(vma);
+		}
+#endif
+		remove_vma(vma);
 		count++;
 		cond_resched();
 		vma = vma_next(&vmi);
diff --git a/mm/vma.c b/mm/vma.c
index 0436a7d21e01..1b46b92b2d4d 100644
--- a/mm/vma.c
+++ b/mm/vma.c
@@ -406,23 +406,14 @@ static bool can_vma_merge_right(struct vma_merge_struct *vmg,
 /*
  * Close a vm structure and free it.
  */
-void remove_vma(struct vm_area_struct *vma, bool unreachable)
+void remove_vma(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 {
 	might_sleep();
 	vma_close(vma);
 	if (vma->vm_file)
 		fput(vma->vm_file);
 	mpol_put(vma_policy(vma));
-	if (unreachable) {
-#ifdef CONFIG_PER_VMA_LOCK
-		if (!is_vma_detached(vma)) {
-			vma_start_write(vma);
-			vma_mark_detached(vma);
-		}
-#endif
-		__vm_area_free(vma);
-	} else
-		vm_area_free(vma);
+	vm_area_free(vma);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -1206,7 +1197,7 @@ static void vms_complete_munmap_vmas(struct vma_munmap_struct *vms,
 	/* Remove and clean up vmas */
 	mas_set(mas_detach, 0);
 	mas_for_each(mas_detach, vma, ULONG_MAX)
-		remove_vma(vma, /* unreachable = */ false);
+		remove_vma(vma);
 
 	vm_unacct_memory(vms->nr_accounted);
 	validate_mm(mm);
diff --git a/mm/vma.h b/mm/vma.h
index 24636a2b0acf..3e6c14a748c2 100644
--- a/mm/vma.h
+++ b/mm/vma.h
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ int do_vmi_munmap(struct vma_iterator *vmi, struct mm_struct *mm,
 		  unsigned long start, size_t len, struct list_head *uf,
 		  bool unlock);
 
-void remove_vma(struct vm_area_struct *vma, bool unreachable);
+void remove_vma(struct vm_area_struct *vma);
 
 void unmap_region(struct ma_state *mas, struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 		struct vm_area_struct *prev, struct vm_area_struct *next);
diff --git a/tools/testing/vma/vma_internal.h b/tools/testing/vma/vma_internal.h
index ac0a59906fea..3342cad87ece 100644
--- a/tools/testing/vma/vma_internal.h
+++ b/tools/testing/vma/vma_internal.h
@@ -700,14 +700,9 @@ static inline void mpol_put(struct mempolicy *)
 {
 }
 
-static inline void __vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
-{
-	free(vma);
-}
-
 static inline void vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 {
-	__vm_area_free(vma);
+	free(vma);
 }
 
 static inline void lru_add_drain(void)
