diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c b/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
index b4df5bc5b1b8..1dfe1a8efdbe 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
@@ -1177,8 +1177,11 @@ int __meminit vmemmap_populate(unsigned long start, unsigned long end, int node,
 		struct vmem_altmap *altmap)
 {
 	WARN_ON((start < VMEMMAP_START) || (end > VMEMMAP_END));
+	/* [start, end] should be within one section */
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(end - start > PAGES_PER_SECTION * sizeof(struct page));
 
-	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARM64_4K_PAGES))
+	if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_ARM64_4K_PAGES) ||
+	    (end - start < PAGES_PER_SECTION * sizeof(struct page)))
 		return vmemmap_populate_basepages(start, end, node, altmap);
 	else
 		return vmemmap_populate_hugepages(start, end, node, altmap);