diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 085de0442dd44..2b69e28706b18 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -2058,8 +2058,12 @@ static void reserve_highatomic_pageblock(struct page *page, struct zone *zone,
  * potentially hurts the reliability of high-order allocations when under
  * intense memory pressure but failed atomic allocations should be easier
  * to recover from than an OOM.
+ *
+ * If @force is true, try to unreserve a pageblock even though highatomic
+ * pageblock is exhausted.
  */
-static bool unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(const struct alloc_context *ac)
+static bool unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(const struct alloc_context *ac,
+						bool force)
 {
 	struct zonelist *zonelist = ac->zonelist;
 	unsigned long flags;
@@ -2071,8 +2075,12 @@ static bool unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(const struct alloc_context *ac)
 
 	for_each_zone_zonelist_nodemask(zone, z, zonelist, ac->high_zoneidx,
 								ac->nodemask) {
-		/* Preserve at least one pageblock */
-		if (zone->nr_reserved_highatomic <= pageblock_nr_pages)
+		/*
+		 * Preserve at least one pageblock unless memory pressure
+		 * is really high.
+		 */
+		if (!force && zone->nr_reserved_highatomic <=
+					pageblock_nr_pages)
 			continue;
 
 		spin_lock_irqsave(&zone->lock, flags);
@@ -2117,8 +2125,10 @@ static bool unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(const struct alloc_context *ac)
 			 */
 			set_pageblock_migratetype(page, ac->migratetype);
 			ret = move_freepages_block(zone, page, ac->migratetype);
-			spin_unlock_irqrestore(&zone->lock, flags);
-			return ret;
+			if (ret) {
+				spin_unlock_irqrestore(&zone->lock, flags);
+				return ret;
+			}
 		}
 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&zone->lock, flags);
 	}
@@ -3322,7 +3332,7 @@ __alloc_pages_direct_reclaim(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned int order,
 	 * Shrink them them and try again
 	 */
 	if (!page && !drained) {
-		unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(ac);
+		unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(ac, false);
 		drain_all_pages(NULL);
 		drained = true;
 		goto retry;
@@ -3441,7 +3451,7 @@ should_reclaim_retry(gfp_t gfp_mask, unsigned order,
 	 */
 	if (*no_progress_loops > MAX_RECLAIM_RETRIES) {
 		/* Before OOM, exhaust highatomic_reserve */
-		return unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(ac);
+		return unreserve_highatomic_pageblock(ac, true);
 	}
 
 	/*