diff --git a/qemu/include/qemu/atomic.h b/qemu/include/qemu/atomic.h
index 17f38ba9..4bcce927 100644
--- a/qemu/include/qemu/atomic.h
+++ b/qemu/include/qemu/atomic.h
@@ -70,12 +70,22 @@ void _ReadWriteBarrier(void);
     __atomic_store(ptr, &_val, __ATOMIC_RELAXED); \
 } while(0)
 
-/* Atomic RCU operations imply weak memory barriers */
+/* See above: most compilers currently treat consume and acquire the
+ * same, but this slows down atomic_rcu_read unnecessarily.
+ */
+#ifdef __SANITIZE_THREAD__
+#define atomic_rcu_read__nocheck(ptr, valptr)           \
+    __atomic_load(ptr, valptr, __ATOMIC_CONSUME);
+#else
+#define atomic_rcu_read__nocheck(ptr, valptr)           \
+    __atomic_load(ptr, valptr, __ATOMIC_RELAXED);       \
+    smp_read_barrier_depends();
+#endif
 
 #define atomic_rcu_read(ptr)                      \
     ({                                            \
     typeof(*ptr) _val;                            \
-     __atomic_load(ptr, &_val, __ATOMIC_CONSUME); \
+    atomic_rcu_read__nocheck(ptr, &_val);         \
     _val;                                         \
     })