diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index 2254f36b74b8..45c1cf61cbed 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -281,17 +281,34 @@ shrink_slab_node(struct shrink_control *shrinkctl, struct shrinker *shrinker,
 				nr_pages_scanned, lru_pages,
 				max_pass, delta, total_scan);
 
-	while (total_scan >= batch_size) {
+	/*
+	 * Normally, we should not scan less than batch_size objects in one
+	 * pass to avoid too frequent shrinker calls, but if the slab has less
+	 * than batch_size objects in total and we are really tight on memory,
+	 * we will try to reclaim all available objects, otherwise we can end
+	 * up failing allocations although there are plenty of reclaimable
+	 * objects spread over several slabs with usage less than the
+	 * batch_size.
+	 *
+	 * We detect the "tight on memory" situations by looking at the total
+	 * number of objects we want to scan (total_scan). If it is greater
+	 * than the total number of objects on slab (max_pass), we must be
+	 * scanning at high prio and therefore should try to reclaim as much as
+	 * possible.
+	 */
+	while (total_scan >= batch_size ||
+	       total_scan >= max_pass) {
 		unsigned long ret;
+		unsigned long nr_to_scan = min(batch_size, total_scan);
 
-		shrinkctl->nr_to_scan = batch_size;
+		shrinkctl->nr_to_scan = nr_to_scan;
 		ret = shrinker->scan_objects(shrinker, shrinkctl);
 		if (ret == SHRINK_STOP)
 			break;
 		freed += ret;
 
-		count_vm_events(SLABS_SCANNED, batch_size);
-		total_scan -= batch_size;
+		count_vm_events(SLABS_SCANNED, nr_to_scan);
+		total_scan -= nr_to_scan;
 
 		cond_resched();
 	}