diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
index 271a09db6629f539753b864a567e78f011d0efde..9886c3d57fc2ad82d002e3fe3edfa60584f8cdaa 100644
--- a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
@@ -317,6 +317,7 @@ for more than this value report a warning.
 This file shows up if CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK is enabled.
 
 0: means infinite timeout - no checking done.
+Possible values to set are in range {0..LONG_MAX/HZ}.
 
 ==============================================================
 
diff --git a/kernel/sysctl.c b/kernel/sysctl.c
index 5c14b547882ef1dabfcd9cd80f5903e173ef4ec4..74f5b580fe34904fa4d9bcb2790545a323367773 100644
--- a/kernel/sysctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sysctl.c
@@ -141,6 +141,11 @@ static int min_percpu_pagelist_fract = 8;
 static int ngroups_max = NGROUPS_MAX;
 static const int cap_last_cap = CAP_LAST_CAP;
 
+/*this is needed for proc_doulongvec_minmax of sysctl_hung_task_timeout_secs */
+#ifdef CONFIG_DETECT_HUNG_TASK
+static unsigned long hung_task_timeout_max = (LONG_MAX/HZ);
+#endif
+
 #ifdef CONFIG_INOTIFY_USER
 #include <linux/inotify.h>
 #endif
@@ -985,6 +990,7 @@ static struct ctl_table kern_table[] = {
 		.maxlen		= sizeof(unsigned long),
 		.mode		= 0644,
 		.proc_handler	= proc_dohung_task_timeout_secs,
+		.extra2		= &hung_task_timeout_max,
 	},
 	{
 		.procname	= "hung_task_warnings",