diff --git a/libprocessgroup/processgroup.cpp b/libprocessgroup/processgroup.cpp
index f160ac17d..5ab957d86 100644
--- a/libprocessgroup/processgroup.cpp
+++ b/libprocessgroup/processgroup.cpp
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
 #include <processgroup/processgroup.h>
 
 #define MEM_CGROUP_PATH "/dev/memcg/apps"
+#define MEM_CGROUP_TASKS "/dev/memcg/apps/tasks"
 #define ACCT_CGROUP_PATH "/acct"
 
 #define PROCESSGROUP_UID_PREFIX "uid_"
@@ -68,7 +69,10 @@ struct ctx {
 static const char* getCgroupRootPath() {
     static const char* cgroup_root_path = NULL;
     std::call_once(init_path_flag, [&]() {
-            cgroup_root_path = access(MEM_CGROUP_PATH, W_OK) ? ACCT_CGROUP_PATH : MEM_CGROUP_PATH;
+            // Check if mem cgroup is mounted, only then check for write-access to avoid
+            // SELinux denials
+            cgroup_root_path = access(MEM_CGROUP_TASKS, F_OK) || access(MEM_CGROUP_PATH, W_OK) ?
+                    ACCT_CGROUP_PATH : MEM_CGROUP_PATH;
             });
     return cgroup_root_path;
 }
diff --git a/rootdir/init.rc b/rootdir/init.rc
index e2ffe5db0..faae48efb 100644
--- a/rootdir/init.rc
+++ b/rootdir/init.rc
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ on init
     # root memory control cgroup, used by lmkd
     mkdir /dev/memcg 0700 root system
     mount cgroup none /dev/memcg memory
-    # app mem cgroups, used by activity manager and lmkd
+    # app mem cgroups, used by activity manager, lmkd and zygote
     mkdir /dev/memcg/apps/ 0755 system system
 
     write /proc/sys/kernel/panic_on_oops 1