diff --git a/fs/seq_file.c b/fs/seq_file.c
index 353948ba1c5b..dbf3a59c86bb 100644
--- a/fs/seq_file.c
+++ b/fs/seq_file.c
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ static void *seq_buf_alloc(unsigned long size)
 {
 	void *buf;
 
-	buf = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_NOWARN);
+	/*
+	 * __GFP_NORETRY to avoid oom-killings with high-order allocations -
+	 * it's better to fall back to vmalloc() than to kill things.
+	 */
+	buf = kmalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_NORETRY | __GFP_NOWARN);
 	if (!buf && size > PAGE_SIZE)
 		buf = vmalloc(size);
 	return buf;