diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index 006829efceca..af0c42daa77d 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -2494,6 +2494,23 @@ static void get_scan_count(struct lruvec *lruvec, struct scan_control *sc,
 	enum scan_balance scan_balance;
 	enum lru_list lru;
 
+	/*
+	 * Proactive reclaim initiated by userspace for anonymous memory only.
+	 * SWAPPINESS_ANON_ONLY is set only on the proactive reclaim path, so
+	 * warn if it shows up elsewhere. When anon cannot be reclaimed (e.g.
+	 * no swap), bail out instead of falling back to evicting file pages,
+	 * which would violate the anon-only semantics.
+	 */
+	if (swappiness == SWAPPINESS_ANON_ONLY) {
+		WARN_ON_ONCE(!sc->proactive);
+		if (!can_reclaim_anon_pages(memcg, pgdat->node_id, sc)) {
+			memset(nr, 0, sizeof(*nr) * NR_LRU_LISTS);
+			return;
+		}
+		scan_balance = SCAN_ANON;
+		goto out;
+	}
+
 	/* If we have no swap space, do not bother scanning anon folios. */
 	if (!sc->may_swap || !can_reclaim_anon_pages(memcg, pgdat->node_id, sc)) {
 		scan_balance = SCAN_FILE;
@@ -2512,13 +2529,6 @@ static void get_scan_count(struct lruvec *lruvec, struct scan_control *sc,
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	/* Proactive reclaim initiated by userspace for anonymous memory only */
-	if (swappiness == SWAPPINESS_ANON_ONLY) {
-		WARN_ON_ONCE(!sc->proactive);
-		scan_balance = SCAN_ANON;
-		goto out;
-	}
-
 	/*
 	 * Do not apply any pressure balancing cleverness when the
 	 * system is close to OOM, scan both anon and file equally