diff --git a/fs/btrfs/send.c b/fs/btrfs/send.c
index b67e12eb7ca916b5b2dbc86fc3f9c8c3f9f7ae48..7edfc7cebda409d5f76b342591498dbe93d75cac 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/send.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/send.c
@@ -986,11 +986,13 @@ static int iterate_dir_item(struct btrfs_root *root, struct btrfs_path *path,
 	int num;
 	u8 type;
 
-	if (found_key->type == BTRFS_XATTR_ITEM_KEY)
-		buf_len = BTRFS_MAX_XATTR_SIZE(root);
-	else
-		buf_len = PATH_MAX;
-
+	/*
+	 * Start with a small buffer (1 page). If later we end up needing more
+	 * space, which can happen for xattrs on a fs with a leaf size greater
+	 * then the page size, attempt to increase the buffer. Typically xattr
+	 * values are small.
+	 */
+	buf_len = PATH_MAX;
 	buf = kmalloc(buf_len, GFP_NOFS);
 	if (!buf) {
 		ret = -ENOMEM;
@@ -1017,7 +1019,7 @@ static int iterate_dir_item(struct btrfs_root *root, struct btrfs_path *path,
 				ret = -ENAMETOOLONG;
 				goto out;
 			}
-			if (name_len + data_len > buf_len) {
+			if (name_len + data_len > BTRFS_MAX_XATTR_SIZE(root)) {
 				ret = -E2BIG;
 				goto out;
 			}
@@ -1025,12 +1027,34 @@ static int iterate_dir_item(struct btrfs_root *root, struct btrfs_path *path,
 			/*
 			 * Path too long
 			 */
-			if (name_len + data_len > buf_len) {
+			if (name_len + data_len > PATH_MAX) {
 				ret = -ENAMETOOLONG;
 				goto out;
 			}
 		}
 
+		if (name_len + data_len > buf_len) {
+			buf_len = name_len + data_len;
+			if (is_vmalloc_addr(buf)) {
+				vfree(buf);
+				buf = NULL;
+			} else {
+				char *tmp = krealloc(buf, buf_len,
+						     GFP_NOFS | __GFP_NOWARN);
+
+				if (!tmp)
+					kfree(buf);
+				buf = tmp;
+			}
+			if (!buf) {
+				buf = vmalloc(buf_len);
+				if (!buf) {
+					ret = -ENOMEM;
+					goto out;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
 		read_extent_buffer(eb, buf, (unsigned long)(di + 1),
 				name_len + data_len);
 
@@ -1051,7 +1075,7 @@ static int iterate_dir_item(struct btrfs_root *root, struct btrfs_path *path,
 	}
 
 out:
-	kfree(buf);
+	kvfree(buf);
 	return ret;
 }