diff --git a/include/linux/mmzone.h b/include/linux/mmzone.h
index 2aaf72f7e345f0841261db1a25a8c91e529f6f07..fce64afba0426851dee4bcd7dad4a78d6352e47a 100644
--- a/include/linux/mmzone.h
+++ b/include/linux/mmzone.h
@@ -499,6 +499,9 @@ typedef enum {
 					 * many dirty file pages at the tail
 					 * of the LRU.
 					 */
+	ZONE_WRITEBACK,			/* reclaim scanning has recently found
+					 * many pages under writeback
+					 */
 } zone_flags_t;
 
 static inline void zone_set_flag(struct zone *zone, zone_flags_t flag)
@@ -526,6 +529,11 @@ static inline int zone_is_reclaim_dirty(const struct zone *zone)
 	return test_bit(ZONE_TAIL_LRU_DIRTY, &zone->flags);
 }
 
+static inline int zone_is_reclaim_writeback(const struct zone *zone)
+{
+	return test_bit(ZONE_WRITEBACK, &zone->flags);
+}
+
 static inline int zone_is_reclaim_locked(const struct zone *zone)
 {
 	return test_bit(ZONE_RECLAIM_LOCKED, &zone->flags);
diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index d6c916d808ba2248e112a3dc3767647abf857fc3..1109de0c35bf450605d9be2657706041d4a66cb7 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -724,25 +724,55 @@ static unsigned long shrink_page_list(struct list_head *page_list,
 		may_enter_fs = (sc->gfp_mask & __GFP_FS) ||
 			(PageSwapCache(page) && (sc->gfp_mask & __GFP_IO));
 
+		/*
+		 * If a page at the tail of the LRU is under writeback, there
+		 * are three cases to consider.
+		 *
+		 * 1) If reclaim is encountering an excessive number of pages
+		 *    under writeback and this page is both under writeback and
+		 *    PageReclaim then it indicates that pages are being queued
+		 *    for IO but are being recycled through the LRU before the
+		 *    IO can complete. Waiting on the page itself risks an
+		 *    indefinite stall if it is impossible to writeback the
+		 *    page due to IO error or disconnected storage so instead
+		 *    block for HZ/10 or until some IO completes then clear the
+		 *    ZONE_WRITEBACK flag to recheck if the condition exists.
+		 *
+		 * 2) Global reclaim encounters a page, memcg encounters a
+		 *    page that is not marked for immediate reclaim or
+		 *    the caller does not have __GFP_IO. In this case mark
+		 *    the page for immediate reclaim and continue scanning.
+		 *
+		 *    __GFP_IO is checked  because a loop driver thread might
+		 *    enter reclaim, and deadlock if it waits on a page for
+		 *    which it is needed to do the write (loop masks off
+		 *    __GFP_IO|__GFP_FS for this reason); but more thought
+		 *    would probably show more reasons.
+		 *
+		 *    Don't require __GFP_FS, since we're not going into the
+		 *    FS, just waiting on its writeback completion. Worryingly,
+		 *    ext4 gfs2 and xfs allocate pages with
+		 *    grab_cache_page_write_begin(,,AOP_FLAG_NOFS), so testing
+		 *    may_enter_fs here is liable to OOM on them.
+		 *
+		 * 3) memcg encounters a page that is not already marked
+		 *    PageReclaim. memcg does not have any dirty pages
+		 *    throttling so we could easily OOM just because too many
+		 *    pages are in writeback and there is nothing else to
+		 *    reclaim. Wait for the writeback to complete.
+		 */
 		if (PageWriteback(page)) {
-			/*
-			 * memcg doesn't have any dirty pages throttling so we
-			 * could easily OOM just because too many pages are in
-			 * writeback and there is nothing else to reclaim.
-			 *
-			 * Check __GFP_IO, certainly because a loop driver
-			 * thread might enter reclaim, and deadlock if it waits
-			 * on a page for which it is needed to do the write
-			 * (loop masks off __GFP_IO|__GFP_FS for this reason);
-			 * but more thought would probably show more reasons.
-			 *
-			 * Don't require __GFP_FS, since we're not going into
-			 * the FS, just waiting on its writeback completion.
-			 * Worryingly, ext4 gfs2 and xfs allocate pages with
-			 * grab_cache_page_write_begin(,,AOP_FLAG_NOFS), so
-			 * testing may_enter_fs here is liable to OOM on them.
-			 */
-			if (global_reclaim(sc) ||
+			/* Case 1 above */
+			if (current_is_kswapd() &&
+			    PageReclaim(page) &&
+			    zone_is_reclaim_writeback(zone)) {
+				unlock_page(page);
+				congestion_wait(BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ/10);
+				zone_clear_flag(zone, ZONE_WRITEBACK);
+				goto keep;
+
+			/* Case 2 above */
+			} else if (global_reclaim(sc) ||
 			    !PageReclaim(page) || !(sc->gfp_mask & __GFP_IO)) {
 				/*
 				 * This is slightly racy - end_page_writeback()
@@ -757,9 +787,13 @@ static unsigned long shrink_page_list(struct list_head *page_list,
 				 */
 				SetPageReclaim(page);
 				nr_writeback++;
+
 				goto keep_locked;
+
+			/* Case 3 above */
+			} else {
+				wait_on_page_writeback(page);
 			}
-			wait_on_page_writeback(page);
 		}
 
 		if (!force_reclaim)
@@ -1374,8 +1408,10 @@ shrink_inactive_list(unsigned long nr_to_scan, struct lruvec *lruvec,
 	 *                     isolated page is PageWriteback
 	 */
 	if (nr_writeback && nr_writeback >=
-			(nr_taken >> (DEF_PRIORITY - sc->priority)))
+			(nr_taken >> (DEF_PRIORITY - sc->priority))) {
 		wait_iff_congested(zone, BLK_RW_ASYNC, HZ/10);
+		zone_set_flag(zone, ZONE_WRITEBACK);
+	}
 
 	/*
 	 * Similarly, if many dirty pages are encountered that are not
@@ -2669,8 +2705,8 @@ static bool prepare_kswapd_sleep(pg_data_t *pgdat, int order, long remaining,
  * the high watermark.
  *
  * Returns true if kswapd scanned at least the requested number of pages to
- * reclaim. This is used to determine if the scanning priority needs to be
- * raised.
+ * reclaim or if the lack of progress was due to pages under writeback.
+ * This is used to determine if the scanning priority needs to be raised.
  */
 static bool kswapd_shrink_zone(struct zone *zone,
 			       struct scan_control *sc,
@@ -2697,6 +2733,8 @@ static bool kswapd_shrink_zone(struct zone *zone,
 	if (nr_slab == 0 && !zone_reclaimable(zone))
 		zone->all_unreclaimable = 1;
 
+	zone_clear_flag(zone, ZONE_WRITEBACK);
+
 	return sc->nr_scanned >= sc->nr_to_reclaim;
 }