diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index bd65b60939b6..869035717048 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -2216,7 +2216,11 @@ __rmqueue_fallback(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order, int start_migratetype)
 	int fallback_mt;
 	bool can_steal;
 
-	/* Find the largest possible block of pages in the other list */
+	/*
+	 * Find the largest available free page in the other list. This roughly
+	 * approximates finding the pageblock with the most free pages, which
+	 * would be too costly to do exactly.
+	 */
 	for (current_order = MAX_ORDER-1;
 				current_order >= order && current_order <= MAX_ORDER-1;
 				--current_order) {
@@ -2226,19 +2230,50 @@ __rmqueue_fallback(struct zone *zone, unsigned int order, int start_migratetype)
 		if (fallback_mt == -1)
 			continue;
 
-		page = list_first_entry(&area->free_list[fallback_mt],
-						struct page, lru);
+		/*
+		 * We cannot steal all free pages from the pageblock and the
+		 * requested migratetype is movable. In that case it's better to
+		 * steal and split the smallest available page instead of the
+		 * largest available page, because even if the next movable
+		 * allocation falls back into a different pageblock than this
+		 * one, it won't cause permanent fragmentation.
+		 */
+		if (!can_steal && start_migratetype == MIGRATE_MOVABLE
+					&& current_order > order)
+			goto find_smallest;
 
-		steal_suitable_fallback(zone, page, start_migratetype,
-								can_steal);
-
-		trace_mm_page_alloc_extfrag(page, order, current_order,
-			start_migratetype, fallback_mt);
-
-		return true;
+		goto do_steal;
 	}
 
 	return false;
+
+find_smallest:
+	for (current_order = order; current_order < MAX_ORDER;
+							current_order++) {
+		area = &(zone->free_area[current_order]);
+		fallback_mt = find_suitable_fallback(area, current_order,
+				start_migratetype, false, &can_steal);
+		if (fallback_mt != -1)
+			break;
+	}
+
+	/*
+	 * This should not happen - we already found a suitable fallback
+	 * when looking for the largest page.
+	 */
+	VM_BUG_ON(current_order == MAX_ORDER);
+
+do_steal:
+	page = list_first_entry(&area->free_list[fallback_mt],
+							struct page, lru);
+
+	steal_suitable_fallback(zone, page, start_migratetype, can_steal);
+
+	trace_mm_page_alloc_extfrag(page, order, current_order,
+		start_migratetype, fallback_mt);
+
+	return true;
+
 }
 
 /*