diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 5dac5d8..85759cd 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -1446,9 +1446,6 @@
 	int zlc_active = 0;		/* set if using zonelist_cache */
 	int did_zlc_setup = 0;		/* just call zlc_setup() one time */
 
-	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(order >= MAX_ORDER))
-		return NULL;
-
 	classzone_idx = zone_idx(preferred_zone);
 zonelist_scan:
 	/*
@@ -1707,6 +1704,15 @@
 	struct task_struct *p = current;
 
 	/*
+	 * In the slowpath, we sanity check order to avoid ever trying to
+	 * reclaim >= MAX_ORDER areas which will never succeed. Callers may
+	 * be using allocators in order of preference for an area that is
+	 * too large.
+	 */
+	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(order >= MAX_ORDER))
+		return NULL;
+
+	/*
 	 * GFP_THISNODE (meaning __GFP_THISNODE, __GFP_NORETRY and
 	 * __GFP_NOWARN set) should not cause reclaim since the subsystem
 	 * (f.e. slab) using GFP_THISNODE may choose to trigger reclaim