diff --git a/mm/filemap.c b/mm/filemap.c
index fbaf0e4fc8e1..6e3d27993b67 100644
--- a/mm/filemap.c
+++ b/mm/filemap.c
@@ -1986,8 +1986,19 @@ struct folio *__filemap_get_folio(struct address_space *mapping, pgoff_t index,
 
 		if (err == -EEXIST)
 			goto repeat;
-		if (err)
+		if (err) {
+			/*
+			 * When NOWAIT I/O fails to allocate folios this could
+			 * be due to a nonblocking memory allocation and not
+			 * because the system actually is out of memory.
+			 * Return -EAGAIN so that there caller retries in a
+			 * blocking fashion instead of propagating -ENOMEM
+			 * to the application.
+			 */
+			if ((fgp_flags & FGP_NOWAIT) && err == -ENOMEM)
+				err = -EAGAIN;
 			return ERR_PTR(err);
+		}
 		/*
 		 * filemap_add_folio locks the page, and for mmap
 		 * we expect an unlocked page.