diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp.c b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
index 7b1886103556..d1949fdb1462 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
@@ -2436,12 +2436,11 @@ static int tcp_recvmsg_locked(struct sock *sk, struct msghdr *msg, size_t len,
 			}
 		}
 
-		tcp_cleanup_rbuf(sk, copied);
-
 		if (copied >= target) {
 			/* Do not sleep, just process backlog. */
 			__sk_flush_backlog(sk);
 		} else {
+			tcp_cleanup_rbuf(sk, copied);
 			sk_defer_free_flush(sk);
 			sk_wait_data(sk, &timeo, last);
 		}