diff --git a/block/blk-cgroup.c b/block/blk-cgroup.c
index a317c03d40f6..582d2f18717e 100644
--- a/block/blk-cgroup.c
+++ b/block/blk-cgroup.c
@@ -764,6 +764,10 @@ static void blkcg_rstat_flush(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css, int cpu)
 	struct blkcg *blkcg = css_to_blkcg(css);
 	struct blkcg_gq *blkg;
 
+	/* Root-level stats are sourced from system-wide IO stats */
+	if (!cgroup_parent(css->cgroup))
+		return;
+
 	rcu_read_lock();
 
 	hlist_for_each_entry_rcu(blkg, &blkcg->blkg_list, blkcg_node) {
@@ -786,8 +790,8 @@ static void blkcg_rstat_flush(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css, int cpu)
 		blkg_iostat_add(&bisc->last, &delta);
 		u64_stats_update_end(&blkg->iostat.sync);
 
-		/* propagate global delta to parent */
-		if (parent) {
+		/* propagate global delta to parent (unless that's root) */
+		if (parent && parent->parent) {
 			u64_stats_update_begin(&parent->iostat.sync);
 			blkg_iostat_set(&delta, &blkg->iostat.cur);
 			blkg_iostat_sub(&delta, &blkg->iostat.last);
@@ -801,10 +805,11 @@ static void blkcg_rstat_flush(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css, int cpu)
 }
 
 /*
- * The rstat algorithms intentionally don't handle the root cgroup to avoid
- * incurring overhead when no cgroups are defined. For that reason,
- * cgroup_rstat_flush in blkcg_print_stat does not actually fill out the
- * iostat in the root cgroup's blkcg_gq.
+ * We source root cgroup stats from the system-wide stats to avoid
+ * tracking the same information twice and incurring overhead when no
+ * cgroups are defined. For that reason, cgroup_rstat_flush in
+ * blkcg_print_stat does not actually fill out the iostat in the root
+ * cgroup's blkcg_gq.
  *
  * However, we would like to re-use the printing code between the root and
  * non-root cgroups to the extent possible. For that reason, we simulate
diff --git a/kernel/cgroup/rstat.c b/kernel/cgroup/rstat.c
index faa767a870ba..3a3fd2993a65 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup/rstat.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup/rstat.c
@@ -25,13 +25,8 @@ static struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *cgroup_rstat_cpu(struct cgroup *cgrp, int cpu)
 void cgroup_rstat_updated(struct cgroup *cgrp, int cpu)
 {
 	raw_spinlock_t *cpu_lock = per_cpu_ptr(&cgroup_rstat_cpu_lock, cpu);
-	struct cgroup *parent;
 	unsigned long flags;
 
-	/* nothing to do for root */
-	if (!cgroup_parent(cgrp))
-		return;
-
 	/*
 	 * Speculative already-on-list test. This may race leading to
 	 * temporary inaccuracies, which is fine.
@@ -46,10 +41,10 @@ void cgroup_rstat_updated(struct cgroup *cgrp, int cpu)
 	raw_spin_lock_irqsave(cpu_lock, flags);
 
 	/* put @cgrp and all ancestors on the corresponding updated lists */
-	for (parent = cgroup_parent(cgrp); parent;
-	     cgrp = parent, parent = cgroup_parent(cgrp)) {
+	while (true) {
 		struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *rstatc = cgroup_rstat_cpu(cgrp, cpu);
-		struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *prstatc = cgroup_rstat_cpu(parent, cpu);
+		struct cgroup *parent = cgroup_parent(cgrp);
+		struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *prstatc;
 
 		/*
 		 * Both additions and removals are bottom-up.  If a cgroup
@@ -58,8 +53,17 @@ void cgroup_rstat_updated(struct cgroup *cgrp, int cpu)
 		if (rstatc->updated_next)
 			break;
 
+		/* Root has no parent to link it to, but mark it busy */
+		if (!parent) {
+			rstatc->updated_next = cgrp;
+			break;
+		}
+
+		prstatc = cgroup_rstat_cpu(parent, cpu);
 		rstatc->updated_next = prstatc->updated_children;
 		prstatc->updated_children = cgrp;
+
+		cgrp = parent;
 	}
 
 	raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(cpu_lock, flags);
@@ -113,23 +117,26 @@ static struct cgroup *cgroup_rstat_cpu_pop_updated(struct cgroup *pos,
 	 */
 	if (rstatc->updated_next) {
 		struct cgroup *parent = cgroup_parent(pos);
-		struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *prstatc = cgroup_rstat_cpu(parent, cpu);
-		struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *nrstatc;
-		struct cgroup **nextp;
 
-		nextp = &prstatc->updated_children;
-		while (true) {
-			nrstatc = cgroup_rstat_cpu(*nextp, cpu);
-			if (*nextp == pos)
-				break;
+		if (parent) {
+			struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *prstatc;
+			struct cgroup **nextp;
 
-			WARN_ON_ONCE(*nextp == parent);
-			nextp = &nrstatc->updated_next;
+			prstatc = cgroup_rstat_cpu(parent, cpu);
+			nextp = &prstatc->updated_children;
+			while (true) {
+				struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *nrstatc;
+
+				nrstatc = cgroup_rstat_cpu(*nextp, cpu);
+				if (*nextp == pos)
+					break;
+				WARN_ON_ONCE(*nextp == parent);
+				nextp = &nrstatc->updated_next;
+			}
+			*nextp = rstatc->updated_next;
 		}
 
-		*nextp = rstatc->updated_next;
 		rstatc->updated_next = NULL;
-
 		return pos;
 	}
 
@@ -309,11 +316,15 @@ static void cgroup_base_stat_sub(struct cgroup_base_stat *dst_bstat,
 
 static void cgroup_base_stat_flush(struct cgroup *cgrp, int cpu)
 {
-	struct cgroup *parent = cgroup_parent(cgrp);
 	struct cgroup_rstat_cpu *rstatc = cgroup_rstat_cpu(cgrp, cpu);
+	struct cgroup *parent = cgroup_parent(cgrp);
 	struct cgroup_base_stat cur, delta;
 	unsigned seq;
 
+	/* Root-level stats are sourced from system-wide CPU stats */
+	if (!parent)
+		return;
+
 	/* fetch the current per-cpu values */
 	do {
 		seq = __u64_stats_fetch_begin(&rstatc->bsync);
@@ -326,8 +337,8 @@ static void cgroup_base_stat_flush(struct cgroup *cgrp, int cpu)
 	cgroup_base_stat_add(&cgrp->bstat, &delta);
 	cgroup_base_stat_add(&rstatc->last_bstat, &delta);
 
-	/* propagate global delta to parent */
-	if (parent) {
+	/* propagate global delta to parent (unless that's root) */
+	if (cgroup_parent(parent)) {
 		delta = cgrp->bstat;
 		cgroup_base_stat_sub(&delta, &cgrp->last_bstat);
 		cgroup_base_stat_add(&parent->bstat, &delta);