diff --git a/drivers/target/iscsi/iscsi_target.c b/drivers/target/iscsi/iscsi_target.c
index 4ad14ac9a12c..339f97f7085b 100644
--- a/drivers/target/iscsi/iscsi_target.c
+++ b/drivers/target/iscsi/iscsi_target.c
@@ -2336,7 +2336,7 @@ static void iscsit_build_conn_drop_async_message(struct iscsi_conn *conn)
 	if (!conn_p)
 		return;
 
-	cmd = iscsit_allocate_cmd(conn_p, GFP_KERNEL);
+	cmd = iscsit_allocate_cmd(conn_p, GFP_ATOMIC);
 	if (!cmd) {
 		iscsit_dec_conn_usage_count(conn_p);
 		return;