diff --git a/fs/file.c b/fs/file.c
index 0be344755c020e8de53d26ff89f60d8a4778cf91..4c6992d8f3ba1e3056645e805ddcb4c879d82f93 100644
--- a/fs/file.c
+++ b/fs/file.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 #include <linux/module.h>
 #include <linux/fs.h>
 #include <linux/mm.h>
+#include <linux/mmzone.h>
 #include <linux/time.h>
 #include <linux/sched.h>
 #include <linux/slab.h>
@@ -39,14 +40,17 @@ int sysctl_nr_open_max = 1024 * 1024; /* raised later */
  */
 static DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct fdtable_defer, fdtable_defer_list);
 
-static inline void *alloc_fdmem(unsigned int size)
+static void *alloc_fdmem(unsigned int size)
 {
-	void *data;
-
-	data = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL|__GFP_NOWARN);
-	if (data != NULL)
-		return data;
-
+	/*
+	 * Very large allocations can stress page reclaim, so fall back to
+	 * vmalloc() if the allocation size will be considered "large" by the VM.
+	 */
+	if (size <= (PAGE_SIZE << PAGE_ALLOC_COSTLY_ORDER)) {
+		void *data = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL|__GFP_NOWARN);
+		if (data != NULL)
+			return data;
+	}
 	return vmalloc(size);
 }