diff --git a/mm/slab.c b/mm/slab.c
index 7dfa481c96ba..646db3085193 100644
--- a/mm/slab.c
+++ b/mm/slab.c
@@ -2261,9 +2261,11 @@ kmem_cache_create (const char *name, size_t size, size_t align,
 	/*
 	 * Determine if the slab management is 'on' or 'off' slab.
 	 * (bootstrapping cannot cope with offslab caches so don't do
-	 * it too early on.)
+	 * it too early on. Always use on-slab management when
+	 * SLAB_NOLEAKTRACE to avoid recursive calls into kmemleak)
 	 */
-	if ((size >= (PAGE_SIZE >> 3)) && !slab_early_init)
+	if ((size >= (PAGE_SIZE >> 3)) && !slab_early_init &&
+	    !(flags & SLAB_NOLEAKTRACE))
 		/*
 		 * Size is large, assume best to place the slab management obj
 		 * off-slab (should allow better packing of objs).