diff --git a/fs/drop_caches.c b/fs/drop_caches.c
index 82377017130f..d31b6c72b476 100644
--- a/fs/drop_caches.c
+++ b/fs/drop_caches.c
@@ -21,8 +21,13 @@ static void drop_pagecache_sb(struct super_block *sb, void *unused)
 	spin_lock(&sb->s_inode_list_lock);
 	list_for_each_entry(inode, &sb->s_inodes, i_sb_list) {
 		spin_lock(&inode->i_lock);
+		/*
+		 * We must skip inodes in unusual state. We may also skip
+		 * inodes without pages but we deliberately won't in case
+		 * we need to reschedule to avoid softlockups.
+		 */
 		if ((inode->i_state & (I_FREEING|I_WILL_FREE|I_NEW)) ||
-		    (inode->i_mapping->nrpages == 0)) {
+		    (inode->i_mapping->nrpages == 0 && !need_resched())) {
 			spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock);
 			continue;
 		}
@@ -30,6 +35,7 @@ static void drop_pagecache_sb(struct super_block *sb, void *unused)
 		spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock);
 		spin_unlock(&sb->s_inode_list_lock);
 
+		cond_resched();
 		invalidate_mapping_pages(inode->i_mapping, 0, -1);
 		iput(toput_inode);
 		toput_inode = inode;