diff --git a/drivers/mailbox/mailbox-test.c b/drivers/mailbox/mailbox-test.c
index 97fb956bb6e0..93f3d4d61fa7 100644
--- a/drivers/mailbox/mailbox-test.c
+++ b/drivers/mailbox/mailbox-test.c
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #define MBOX_HEXDUMP_MAX_LEN	(MBOX_HEXDUMP_LINE_LEN *		\
 				 (MBOX_MAX_MSG_LEN / MBOX_BYTES_PER_LINE))
 
+static bool mbox_data_ready;
 static struct dentry *root_debugfs_dir;
 
 struct mbox_test_device {
@@ -152,16 +153,14 @@ out:
 
 static bool mbox_test_message_data_ready(struct mbox_test_device *tdev)
 {
-	unsigned char data;
+	bool data_ready;
 	unsigned long flags;
 
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&tdev->lock, flags);
-	data = tdev->rx_buffer[0];
+	data_ready = mbox_data_ready;
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&tdev->lock, flags);
 
-	if (data != '\0')
-		return true;
-	return false;
+	return data_ready;
 }
 
 static ssize_t mbox_test_message_read(struct file *filp, char __user *userbuf,
@@ -223,6 +222,7 @@ static ssize_t mbox_test_message_read(struct file *filp, char __user *userbuf,
 	*(touser + l) = '\0';
 
 	memset(tdev->rx_buffer, 0, MBOX_MAX_MSG_LEN);
+	mbox_data_ready = false;
 
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&tdev->lock, flags);
 
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ static void mbox_test_receive_message(struct mbox_client *client, void *message)
 				     message, MBOX_MAX_MSG_LEN);
 		memcpy(tdev->rx_buffer, message, MBOX_MAX_MSG_LEN);
 	}
+	mbox_data_ready = true;
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&tdev->lock, flags);
 
 	wake_up_interruptible(&tdev->waitq);