diff --git a/include/linux/netdevice.h b/include/linux/netdevice.h
index 1fe9089ad39f..a0da3e1273dd 100644
--- a/include/linux/netdevice.h
+++ b/include/linux/netdevice.h
@@ -3365,6 +3365,7 @@ static inline void dev_xmit_recursion_dec(void)
 	__this_cpu_dec(softnet_data.xmit.recursion);
 }
 
+void kick_defer_list_purge(struct softnet_data *sd, unsigned int cpu);
 void __netif_schedule(struct Qdisc *q);
 void netif_schedule_queue(struct netdev_queue *txq);
 
diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 8d03051f13bd..90a2a8f05d3f 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ static bool use_backlog_threads(void)
 static inline void rps_lock_irqsave(struct softnet_data *sd,
 				    unsigned long *flags)
 {
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS))
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS) || use_backlog_threads())
 		spin_lock_irqsave(&sd->input_pkt_queue.lock, *flags);
 	else if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
 		local_irq_save(*flags);
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ static inline void rps_lock_irqsave(struct softnet_data *sd,
 
 static inline void rps_lock_irq_disable(struct softnet_data *sd)
 {
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS))
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS) || use_backlog_threads())
 		spin_lock_irq(&sd->input_pkt_queue.lock);
 	else if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
 		local_irq_disable();
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ static inline void rps_lock_irq_disable(struct softnet_data *sd)
 static inline void rps_unlock_irq_restore(struct softnet_data *sd,
 					  unsigned long *flags)
 {
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS))
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS) || use_backlog_threads())
 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&sd->input_pkt_queue.lock, *flags);
 	else if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
 		local_irq_restore(*flags);
@@ -270,7 +270,7 @@ static inline void rps_unlock_irq_restore(struct softnet_data *sd,
 
 static inline void rps_unlock_irq_enable(struct softnet_data *sd)
 {
-	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS))
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_RPS) || use_backlog_threads())
 		spin_unlock_irq(&sd->input_pkt_queue.lock);
 	else if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT))
 		local_irq_enable();
@@ -4799,6 +4799,23 @@ static void napi_schedule_rps(struct softnet_data *sd)
 	__napi_schedule_irqoff(&mysd->backlog);
 }
 
+void kick_defer_list_purge(struct softnet_data *sd, unsigned int cpu)
+{
+	unsigned long flags;
+
+	if (use_backlog_threads()) {
+		rps_lock_irqsave(sd, &flags);
+
+		if (!__test_and_set_bit(NAPI_STATE_SCHED, &sd->backlog.state))
+			__napi_schedule_irqoff(&sd->backlog);
+
+		rps_unlock_irq_restore(sd, &flags);
+
+	} else if (!cmpxchg(&sd->defer_ipi_scheduled, 0, 1)) {
+		smp_call_function_single_async(cpu, &sd->defer_csd);
+	}
+}
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_NET_FLOW_LIMIT
 int netdev_flow_limit_table_len __read_mostly = (1 << 12);
 #endif
diff --git a/net/core/skbuff.c b/net/core/skbuff.c
index f651a03c565f..ce321dfd8a10 100644
--- a/net/core/skbuff.c
+++ b/net/core/skbuff.c
@@ -6940,8 +6940,8 @@ nodefer:	__kfree_skb(skb);
 	/* Make sure to trigger NET_RX_SOFTIRQ on the remote CPU
 	 * if we are unlucky enough (this seems very unlikely).
 	 */
-	if (unlikely(kick) && !cmpxchg(&sd->defer_ipi_scheduled, 0, 1))
-		smp_call_function_single_async(cpu, &sd->defer_csd);
+	if (unlikely(kick))
+		kick_defer_list_purge(sd, cpu);
 }
 
 static void skb_splice_csum_page(struct sk_buff *skb, struct page *page,