diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_request.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_request.c
index 6a1661643d3d..06d1267e733d 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_request.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_request.c
@@ -355,7 +355,35 @@ i915_gem_request_alloc(struct intel_engine_cs *engine,
 	if (req && i915_gem_request_completed(req))
 		i915_gem_request_retire(req);
 
-	req = kmem_cache_zalloc(dev_priv->requests, GFP_KERNEL);
+	/* Beware: Dragons be flying overhead.
+	 *
+	 * We use RCU to look up requests in flight. The lookups may
+	 * race with the request being allocated from the slab freelist.
+	 * That is the request we are writing to here, may be in the process
+	 * of being read by __i915_gem_active_get_request_rcu(). As such,
+	 * we have to be very careful when overwriting the contents. During
+	 * the RCU lookup, we change chase the request->engine pointer,
+	 * read the request->fence.seqno and increment the reference count.
+	 *
+	 * The reference count is incremented atomically. If it is zero,
+	 * the lookup knows the request is unallocated and complete. Otherwise,
+	 * it is either still in use, or has been reallocated and reset
+	 * with fence_init(). This increment is safe for release as we check
+	 * that the request we have a reference to and matches the active
+	 * request.
+	 *
+	 * Before we increment the refcount, we chase the request->engine
+	 * pointer. We must not call kmem_cache_zalloc() or else we set
+	 * that pointer to NULL and cause a crash during the lookup. If
+	 * we see the request is completed (based on the value of the
+	 * old engine and seqno), the lookup is complete and reports NULL.
+	 * If we decide the request is not completed (new engine or seqno),
+	 * then we grab a reference and double check that it is still the
+	 * active request - which it won't be and restart the lookup.
+	 *
+	 * Do not use kmem_cache_zalloc() here!
+	 */
+	req = kmem_cache_alloc(dev_priv->requests, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!req)
 		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 
@@ -375,6 +403,13 @@ i915_gem_request_alloc(struct intel_engine_cs *engine,
 	req->engine = engine;
 	req->ctx = i915_gem_context_get(ctx);
 
+	/* No zalloc, must clear what we need by hand */
+	req->previous_context = NULL;
+	req->file_priv = NULL;
+	req->batch_obj = NULL;
+	req->pid = NULL;
+	req->elsp_submitted = 0;
+
 	/*
 	 * Reserve space in the ring buffer for all the commands required to
 	 * eventually emit this request. This is to guarantee that the
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_request.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_request.h
index 6dd83b172c7a..4e91d4912443 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_request.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem_request.h
@@ -51,6 +51,13 @@ struct intel_signal_node {
  * emission time to be associated with the request for tracking how far ahead
  * of the GPU the submission is.
  *
+ * When modifying this structure be very aware that we perform a lockless
+ * RCU lookup of it that may race against reallocation of the struct
+ * from the slab freelist. We intentionally do not zero the structure on
+ * allocation so that the lookup can use the dangling pointers (and is
+ * cogniscent that those pointers may be wrong). Instead, everything that
+ * needs to be initialised must be done so explicitly.
+ *
  * The requests are reference counted.
  */
 struct drm_i915_gem_request {
@@ -458,6 +465,10 @@ __i915_gem_active_get_rcu(const struct i915_gem_active *active)
 	 * just report the active tracker is idle. If the new request is
 	 * incomplete, then we acquire a reference on it and check that
 	 * it remained the active request.
+	 *
+	 * It is then imperative that we do not zero the request on
+	 * reallocation, so that we can chase the dangling pointers!
+	 * See i915_gem_request_alloc().
 	 */
 	do {
 		struct drm_i915_gem_request *request;