diff --git a/drivers/block/rbd.c b/drivers/block/rbd.c
index 7712ae65753c..0a54c588e433 100644
--- a/drivers/block/rbd.c
+++ b/drivers/block/rbd.c
@@ -5242,7 +5242,8 @@ static int rbd_dev_device_setup(struct rbd_device *rbd_dev)
 	set_capacity(rbd_dev->disk, rbd_dev->mapping.size / SECTOR_SIZE);
 	set_disk_ro(rbd_dev->disk, rbd_dev->mapping.read_only);
 
-	rbd_dev->rq_wq = alloc_workqueue("%s", 0, 0, rbd_dev->disk->disk_name);
+	rbd_dev->rq_wq = alloc_workqueue("%s", WQ_MEM_RECLAIM, 0,
+					 rbd_dev->disk->disk_name);
 	if (!rbd_dev->rq_wq) {
 		ret = -ENOMEM;
 		goto err_out_mapping;