diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst
index f86b5e1623c6..fa4dcdb283cf 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/net.rst
@@ -322,6 +322,14 @@ a leaked reference faster. A larger value may be useful to prevent false
 warnings on slow/loaded systems.
 Default value is 10, minimum 1, maximum 3600.
 
+skb_defer_max
+-------------
+
+Max size (in skbs) of the per-cpu list of skbs being freed
+by the cpu which allocated them. Used by TCP stack so far.
+
+Default: 64
+
 optmem_max
 ----------
 
diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index d0b34bc50706..6359f8953269 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -4330,6 +4330,7 @@ int netdev_max_backlog __read_mostly = 1000;
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(netdev_max_backlog);
 
 int netdev_tstamp_prequeue __read_mostly = 1;
+unsigned int sysctl_skb_defer_max __read_mostly = 64;
 int netdev_budget __read_mostly = 300;
 /* Must be at least 2 jiffes to guarantee 1 jiffy timeout */
 unsigned int __read_mostly netdev_budget_usecs = 2 * USEC_PER_SEC / HZ;
diff --git a/net/core/dev.h b/net/core/dev.h
index 328b37af90ba..cbb8a925175a 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.h
+++ b/net/core/dev.h
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ void dev_addr_check(struct net_device *dev);
 /* sysctls not referred to from outside net/core/ */
 extern int		netdev_budget;
 extern unsigned int	netdev_budget_usecs;
-
+extern unsigned int	sysctl_skb_defer_max;
 extern int		netdev_tstamp_prequeue;
 extern int		netdev_unregister_timeout_secs;
 extern int		weight_p;
diff --git a/net/core/skbuff.c b/net/core/skbuff.c
index b40c8cdf4785..1d10bb4adec1 100644
--- a/net/core/skbuff.c
+++ b/net/core/skbuff.c
@@ -80,6 +80,7 @@
 #include <linux/user_namespace.h>
 #include <linux/indirect_call_wrapper.h>
 
+#include "dev.h"
 #include "sock_destructor.h"
 
 struct kmem_cache *skbuff_head_cache __ro_after_init;
@@ -6496,16 +6497,21 @@ void skb_attempt_defer_free(struct sk_buff *skb)
 	int cpu = skb->alloc_cpu;
 	struct softnet_data *sd;
 	unsigned long flags;
+	unsigned int defer_max;
 	bool kick;
 
 	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(cpu >= nr_cpu_ids) ||
 	    !cpu_online(cpu) ||
 	    cpu == raw_smp_processor_id()) {
-		__kfree_skb(skb);
+nodefer:	__kfree_skb(skb);
 		return;
 	}
 
 	sd = &per_cpu(softnet_data, cpu);
+	defer_max = READ_ONCE(sysctl_skb_defer_max);
+	if (READ_ONCE(sd->defer_count) >= defer_max)
+		goto nodefer;
+
 	/* We do not send an IPI or any signal.
 	 * Remote cpu will eventually call skb_defer_free_flush()
 	 */
@@ -6515,11 +6521,8 @@ void skb_attempt_defer_free(struct sk_buff *skb)
 	WRITE_ONCE(sd->defer_list, skb);
 	sd->defer_count++;
 
-	/* kick every time queue length reaches 128.
-	 * This condition should hardly be hit under normal conditions,
-	 * unless cpu suddenly stopped to receive NIC interrupts.
-	 */
-	kick = sd->defer_count == 128;
+	/* Send an IPI every time queue reaches half capacity. */
+	kick = sd->defer_count == (defer_max >> 1);
 
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&sd->defer_lock, flags);
 
diff --git a/net/core/sysctl_net_core.c b/net/core/sysctl_net_core.c
index 195ca5c28771..ca8d38325e1e 100644
--- a/net/core/sysctl_net_core.c
+++ b/net/core/sysctl_net_core.c
@@ -578,6 +578,14 @@ static struct ctl_table net_core_table[] = {
 		.extra1		= SYSCTL_ONE,
 		.extra2		= &int_3600,
 	},
+	{
+		.procname	= "skb_defer_max",
+		.data		= &sysctl_skb_defer_max,
+		.maxlen		= sizeof(unsigned int),
+		.mode		= 0644,
+		.proc_handler	= proc_dointvec_minmax,
+		.extra1		= SYSCTL_ZERO,
+	},
 	{ }
 };