diff --git a/include/linux/skbuff.h b/include/linux/skbuff.h
index f5bed7b319547f4c147e6d38230bc93363411d5f..2e0ced1af3b10458f4507560bd9c703c2661425f 100644
--- a/include/linux/skbuff.h
+++ b/include/linux/skbuff.h
@@ -651,6 +651,12 @@ static inline struct sk_buff *alloc_skb_fclone(unsigned int size,
 	return __alloc_skb(size, priority, SKB_ALLOC_FCLONE, NUMA_NO_NODE);
 }
 
+extern struct sk_buff *__alloc_skb_head(gfp_t priority, int node);
+static inline struct sk_buff *alloc_skb_head(gfp_t priority)
+{
+	return __alloc_skb_head(priority, -1);
+}
+
 extern struct sk_buff *skb_morph(struct sk_buff *dst, struct sk_buff *src);
 extern int skb_copy_ubufs(struct sk_buff *skb, gfp_t gfp_mask);
 extern struct sk_buff *skb_clone(struct sk_buff *skb,
diff --git a/net/core/skbuff.c b/net/core/skbuff.c
index a92d9e7d10f7fc6baa7cf96c12b29d8075042fcc..898cf5c566f921c93fbbaf1a5ee7d0fc0bb72619 100644
--- a/net/core/skbuff.c
+++ b/net/core/skbuff.c
@@ -179,6 +179,33 @@ static void *__kmalloc_reserve(size_t size, gfp_t flags, int node,
  *
  */
 
+struct sk_buff *__alloc_skb_head(gfp_t gfp_mask, int node)
+{
+	struct sk_buff *skb;
+
+	/* Get the HEAD */
+	skb = kmem_cache_alloc_node(skbuff_head_cache,
+				    gfp_mask & ~__GFP_DMA, node);
+	if (!skb)
+		goto out;
+
+	/*
+	 * Only clear those fields we need to clear, not those that we will
+	 * actually initialise below. Hence, don't put any more fields after
+	 * the tail pointer in struct sk_buff!
+	 */
+	memset(skb, 0, offsetof(struct sk_buff, tail));
+	skb->data = NULL;
+	skb->truesize = sizeof(struct sk_buff);
+	atomic_set(&skb->users, 1);
+
+#ifdef NET_SKBUFF_DATA_USES_OFFSET
+	skb->mac_header = ~0U;
+#endif
+out:
+	return skb;
+}
+
 /**
  *	__alloc_skb	-	allocate a network buffer
  *	@size: size to allocate
@@ -584,7 +611,8 @@ static void skb_release_head_state(struct sk_buff *skb)
 static void skb_release_all(struct sk_buff *skb)
 {
 	skb_release_head_state(skb);
-	skb_release_data(skb);
+	if (likely(skb->data))
+		skb_release_data(skb);
 }
 
 /**