diff --git a/io_uring/io_uring.c b/io_uring/io_uring.c
index ebfdb2212ec2520829c8d1c209970b5869e1b026..77616279000b0c04ee1d98e348f6e547bcba7cc1 100644
--- a/io_uring/io_uring.c
+++ b/io_uring/io_uring.c
@@ -1450,9 +1450,10 @@ int io_req_prep_async(struct io_kiocb *req)
 		return 0;
 	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(req_has_async_data(req)))
 		return -EFAULT;
-	if (io_alloc_async_data(req))
-		return -EAGAIN;
-
+	if (!io_op_defs[req->opcode].manual_alloc) {
+		if (io_alloc_async_data(req))
+			return -EAGAIN;
+	}
 	return def->prep_async(req);
 }
 
diff --git a/io_uring/opdef.h b/io_uring/opdef.h
index ece8ed4f96c43422d72cb1610a9b8c6d468eb2c8..763c6e54e2ee55553ac05d0232ffdd7f336ea47e 100644
--- a/io_uring/opdef.h
+++ b/io_uring/opdef.h
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@ struct io_op_def {
 	unsigned		ioprio : 1;
 	/* supports iopoll */
 	unsigned		iopoll : 1;
+	/* opcode specific path will handle ->async_data allocation if needed */
+	unsigned		manual_alloc : 1;
 	/* size of async data needed, if any */
 	unsigned short		async_size;