diff --git a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/backchannel.c b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/backchannel.c
index f0d5998330fe01ab31cf6020fb64526931f95c64..088c9cc259d7e0c6ca7d840275e9b7f8ea5cdc14 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/backchannel.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/backchannel.c
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ static int rpcrdma_bc_setup_rqst(struct rpcrdma_xprt *r_xprt,
 	req = rpcrdma_create_req(r_xprt);
 	if (IS_ERR(req))
 		return PTR_ERR(req);
-	req->rl_backchannel = true;
+	__set_bit(RPCRDMA_REQ_F_BACKCHANNEL, &req->rl_flags);
 
 	rb = rpcrdma_alloc_regbuf(RPCRDMA_HDRBUF_SIZE,
 				  DMA_TO_DEVICE, GFP_KERNEL);
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/transport.c b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/transport.c
index 7be6e2519197c40a981f08b7533243d5133b239c..acdb2e9c72c8fe22167d58b859d9a65f5de4b83b 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/transport.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/transport.c
@@ -680,7 +680,7 @@ xprt_rdma_free(struct rpc_task *task)
 	struct rpcrdma_req *req = rpcr_to_rdmar(rqst);
 	struct rpcrdma_ia *ia = &r_xprt->rx_ia;
 
-	if (req->rl_backchannel)
+	if (test_bit(RPCRDMA_REQ_F_BACKCHANNEL, &req->rl_flags))
 		return;
 
 	dprintk("RPC:       %s: called on 0x%p\n", __func__, req->rl_reply);
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/verbs.c b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/verbs.c
index 1bf7b1ee569944c7f270c01c2875eb7bc84b1224..bab63adf070ba1db63911e0e1774e14371a5e374 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/verbs.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/verbs.c
@@ -1167,7 +1167,6 @@ rpcrdma_buffer_create(struct rpcrdma_xprt *r_xprt)
 			rc = PTR_ERR(req);
 			goto out;
 		}
-		req->rl_backchannel = false;
 		list_add(&req->rl_list, &buf->rb_send_bufs);
 	}
 
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/xprt_rdma.h b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/xprt_rdma.h
index 537cfabe47d190c5b60ce441474879ae94748545..417532069842f84b94f40d608ab05732cc07e597 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/xprt_rdma.h
+++ b/net/sunrpc/xprtrdma/xprt_rdma.h
@@ -377,12 +377,17 @@ struct rpcrdma_req {
 	struct rpcrdma_regbuf	*rl_recvbuf;	/* rq_rcv_buf */
 
 	struct list_head	rl_all;
-	bool			rl_backchannel;
+	unsigned long		rl_flags;
 
 	struct list_head	rl_registered;	/* registered segments */
 	struct rpcrdma_mr_seg	rl_segments[RPCRDMA_MAX_SEGS];
 };
 
+/* rl_flags */
+enum {
+	RPCRDMA_REQ_F_BACKCHANNEL = 0,
+};
+
 static inline void
 rpcrdma_set_xprtdata(struct rpc_rqst *rqst, struct rpcrdma_req *req)
 {