diff --git a/fs/ext4/inode.c b/fs/ext4/inode.c
index 55bfcd94d1ab..89a31e8869cc 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/inode.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/inode.c
@@ -2350,6 +2350,15 @@ static void mpage_add_bh_to_extent(struct mpage_da_data *mpd,
 	sector_t next;
 	int nrblocks = mpd->b_size >> mpd->inode->i_blkbits;
 
+	/*
+	 * XXX Don't go larger than mballoc is willing to allocate
+	 * This is a stopgap solution.  We eventually need to fold
+	 * mpage_da_submit_io() into this function and then call
+	 * ext4_get_blocks() multiple times in a loop
+	 */
+	if (nrblocks >= 8*1024*1024/mpd->inode->i_sb->s_blocksize)
+		goto flush_it;
+
 	/* check if thereserved journal credits might overflow */
 	if (!(EXT4_I(mpd->inode)->i_flags & EXT4_EXTENTS_FL)) {
 		if (nrblocks >= EXT4_MAX_TRANS_DATA) {