diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_kmem.c b/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_kmem.c
index 258ddc565deba..1b2cec9d18a42 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_kmem.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/cgroup/test_kmem.c
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ static int test_kmem_basic(const char *root)
 		goto cleanup;
 
 	cg_write(cg, "memory.high", "1M");
+
+	/* wait for RCU freeing */
+	sleep(1);
+
 	slab1 = cg_read_key_long(cg, "memory.stat", "slab ");
 	if (slab1 <= 0)
 		goto cleanup;