diff --git a/block/blk-core.c b/block/blk-core.c
index ac0fa10f8fa5..71da5111120c 100644
--- a/block/blk-core.c
+++ b/block/blk-core.c
@@ -1161,7 +1161,7 @@ static int __make_request(struct request_queue *q, struct bio *bio)
 	const unsigned int ff = bio->bi_rw & REQ_FAILFAST_MASK;
 	int rw_flags;
 
-	if (bio_rw_flagged(bio, BIO_RW_BARRIER) && bio_has_data(bio) &&
+	if (bio_rw_flagged(bio, BIO_RW_BARRIER) &&
 	    (q->next_ordered == QUEUE_ORDERED_NONE)) {
 		bio_endio(bio, -EOPNOTSUPP);
 		return 0;