diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_memcontrol.c b/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_memcontrol.c
index 16f5d74ae762..58602c1831f1 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_memcontrol.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_memcontrol.c
@@ -380,10 +380,11 @@ static bool reclaim_until(const char *memcg, long goal);
  *
  * Then it checks actual memory usages and expects that:
  * A/B    memory.current ~= 50M
- * A/B/C  memory.current ~= 29M
- * A/B/D  memory.current ~= 21M
- * A/B/E  memory.current ~= 0
- * A/B/F  memory.current  = 0
+ * A/B/C  memory.current ~= 29M [memory.events:low > 0]
+ * A/B/D  memory.current ~= 21M [memory.events:low > 0]
+ * A/B/E  memory.current ~= 0   [memory.events:low == 0 if !memory_recursiveprot,
+ *				 undefined otherwise]
+ * A/B/F  memory.current  = 0   [memory.events:low == 0]
  * (for origin of the numbers, see model in memcg_protection.m.)
  *
  * After that it tries to allocate more than there is
@@ -525,7 +526,14 @@ static int test_memcg_protection(const char *root, bool min)
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * Child 2 has memory.low=0, but some low protection may still be
+	 * distributed down from its parent with memory.low=50M if cgroup2
+	 * memory_recursiveprot mount option is enabled. Ignore the low
+	 * event count in this case.
+	 */
 	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(children); i++) {
+		int ignore_low_events_index = has_recursiveprot ? 2 : -1;
 		int no_low_events_index = 1;
 		long low, oom;
 
@@ -534,6 +542,8 @@ static int test_memcg_protection(const char *root, bool min)
 
 		if (oom)
 			goto cleanup;
+		if (i == ignore_low_events_index)
+			continue;
 		if (i <= no_low_events_index && low <= 0)
 			goto cleanup;
 		if (i > no_low_events_index && low)