diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/page.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/page.h
index 258cca4b4873..5062d8725fda 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/page.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/page.h
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ struct folio *vma_alloc_zeroed_movable_folio(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 						unsigned long vaddr);
 #define vma_alloc_zeroed_movable_folio vma_alloc_zeroed_movable_folio
 
-bool tag_clear_highpages(struct page *to, int numpages);
+bool tag_clear_highpages(struct page *to, int numpages, bool clear_pages);
 #define __HAVE_ARCH_TAG_CLEAR_HIGHPAGES
 
 #define clear_user_page(page, vaddr, pg)	clear_page(page)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c b/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
index a193b6a5d1e6..4c62082b9a3b 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
@@ -967,7 +967,7 @@ struct folio *vma_alloc_zeroed_movable_folio(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 	return vma_alloc_folio(flags, 0, vma, vaddr);
 }
 
-bool tag_clear_highpages(struct page *page, int numpages)
+bool tag_clear_highpages(struct page *page, int numpages, bool clear_pages)
 {
 	/*
 	 * Check if MTE is supported and fall back to clear_highpage().
@@ -975,13 +975,16 @@ bool tag_clear_highpages(struct page *page, int numpages)
 	 * post_alloc_hook() will invoke tag_clear_highpages().
 	 */
 	if (!system_supports_mte())
-		return false;
+		return clear_pages;
 
 	/* Newly allocated pages, shouldn't have been tagged yet */
 	for (int i = 0; i < numpages; i++, page++) {
 		WARN_ON_ONCE(!try_page_mte_tagging(page));
-		mte_zero_clear_page_tags(page_address(page));
+		if (clear_pages)
+			mte_zero_clear_page_tags(page_address(page));
+		else
+			mte_clear_page_tags(page_address(page));
 		set_page_mte_tagged(page);
 	}
-	return true;
+	return false;
 }
diff --git a/include/linux/gfp_types.h b/include/linux/gfp_types.h
index 65db9349f905..63bee08c6f31 100644
--- a/include/linux/gfp_types.h
+++ b/include/linux/gfp_types.h
@@ -277,11 +277,11 @@ enum {
  *
  * %__GFP_ZERO returns a zeroed page on success.
  *
- * %__GFP_ZEROTAGS zeroes memory tags at allocation time if the memory itself
- * is being zeroed (either via __GFP_ZERO or via init_on_alloc, provided that
- * __GFP_SKIP_ZERO is not set). This flag is intended for optimization: setting
- * memory tags at the same time as zeroing memory has minimal additional
- * performance impact.
+ * %__GFP_ZEROTAGS zeroes memory tags at allocation time. Setting memory tags at
+ * the same time as zeroing memory (e.g., with __GFP_ZERO) has minimal
+ * additional performance impact. However, __GFP_ZEROTAGS also zeroes the tags
+ * even if memory is not getting zeroed at allocation time (e.g.,
+ * with init_on_free).
  *
  * %__GFP_SKIP_KASAN makes KASAN skip unpoisoning on page allocation.
  * Used for userspace and vmalloc pages; the latter are unpoisoned by
diff --git a/include/linux/highmem.h b/include/linux/highmem.h
index abc20f9810fd..029172383b76 100644
--- a/include/linux/highmem.h
+++ b/include/linux/highmem.h
@@ -251,10 +251,11 @@ static inline void clear_highpage_kasan_tagged(struct page *page)
 
 #ifndef __HAVE_ARCH_TAG_CLEAR_HIGHPAGES
 
-/* Return false to let people know we did not initialize the pages */
-static inline bool tag_clear_highpages(struct page *page, int numpages)
+/* Returns true if the caller has to initialize the pages */
+static inline bool tag_clear_highpages(struct page *page, int numpages,
+		bool clear_pages)
 {
-	return false;
+	return clear_pages;
 }
 
 #endif
diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index f67696618003..775e02b797a3 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -1847,9 +1847,9 @@ static inline bool should_skip_init(gfp_t flags)
 inline void post_alloc_hook(struct page *page, unsigned int order,
 				gfp_t gfp_flags)
 {
+	const bool zero_tags = gfp_flags & __GFP_ZEROTAGS;
 	bool init = !want_init_on_free() && want_init_on_alloc(gfp_flags) &&
 			!should_skip_init(gfp_flags);
-	bool zero_tags = init && (gfp_flags & __GFP_ZEROTAGS);
 	int i;
 
 	set_page_private(page, 0);
@@ -1871,11 +1871,11 @@ inline void post_alloc_hook(struct page *page, unsigned int order,
 	 */
 
 	/*
-	 * If memory tags should be zeroed
-	 * (which happens only when memory should be initialized as well).
+	 * Clearing tags can efficiently clear the memory for us as well, if
+	 * required.
 	 */
 	if (zero_tags)
-		init = !tag_clear_highpages(page, 1 << order);
+		init = tag_clear_highpages(page, 1 << order, /* clear_pages= */init);
 
 	if (!should_skip_kasan_unpoison(gfp_flags) &&
 	    kasan_unpoison_pages(page, order, init)) {