diff --git a/net/mptcp/protocol.c b/net/mptcp/protocol.c
index a8aaa6219a19..b81436b9d7c2 100644
--- a/net/mptcp/protocol.c
+++ b/net/mptcp/protocol.c
@@ -1101,7 +1101,7 @@ static void __mptcp_clean_una(struct sock *sk)
 			if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!msk->recovery))
 				break;
 
-			WRITE_ONCE(msk->first_pending, mptcp_send_next(sk));
+			msk->first_pending = mptcp_send_next(sk);
 		}
 
 		dfrag_clear(sk, dfrag);
@@ -1691,7 +1691,7 @@ void __mptcp_push_pending(struct sock *sk, unsigned int flags)
 
 			mptcp_update_post_push(msk, dfrag, ret);
 		}
-		WRITE_ONCE(msk->first_pending, mptcp_send_next(sk));
+		msk->first_pending = mptcp_send_next(sk);
 	}
 
 	/* at this point we held the socket lock for the last subflow we used */
@@ -1747,7 +1747,7 @@ static void __mptcp_subflow_push_pending(struct sock *sk, struct sock *ssk, bool
 
 			mptcp_update_post_push(msk, dfrag, ret);
 		}
-		WRITE_ONCE(msk->first_pending, mptcp_send_next(sk));
+		msk->first_pending = mptcp_send_next(sk);
 	}
 
 out:
@@ -1917,7 +1917,7 @@ static int mptcp_sendmsg(struct sock *sk, struct msghdr *msg, size_t len)
 			get_page(dfrag->page);
 			list_add_tail(&dfrag->list, &msk->rtx_queue);
 			if (!msk->first_pending)
-				WRITE_ONCE(msk->first_pending, dfrag);
+				msk->first_pending = dfrag;
 		}
 		pr_debug("msk=%p dfrag at seq=%llu len=%u sent=%u new=%d\n", msk,
 			 dfrag->data_seq, dfrag->data_len, dfrag->already_sent,
@@ -2915,7 +2915,7 @@ static void __mptcp_clear_xmit(struct sock *sk)
 	struct mptcp_sock *msk = mptcp_sk(sk);
 	struct mptcp_data_frag *dtmp, *dfrag;
 
-	WRITE_ONCE(msk->first_pending, NULL);
+	msk->first_pending = NULL;
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(dfrag, dtmp, &msk->rtx_queue, list)
 		dfrag_clear(sk, dfrag);
 }
@@ -3496,9 +3496,6 @@ void __mptcp_data_acked(struct sock *sk)
 
 void __mptcp_check_push(struct sock *sk, struct sock *ssk)
 {
-	if (!mptcp_send_head(sk))
-		return;
-
 	if (!sock_owned_by_user(sk))
 		__mptcp_subflow_push_pending(sk, ssk, false);
 	else
diff --git a/net/mptcp/protocol.h b/net/mptcp/protocol.h
index 81507419c465..6b1d86fd3a8e 100644
--- a/net/mptcp/protocol.h
+++ b/net/mptcp/protocol.h
@@ -360,7 +360,7 @@ static inline struct mptcp_data_frag *mptcp_send_head(const struct sock *sk)
 {
 	const struct mptcp_sock *msk = mptcp_sk(sk);
 
-	return READ_ONCE(msk->first_pending);
+	return msk->first_pending;
 }
 
 static inline struct mptcp_data_frag *mptcp_send_next(struct sock *sk)