diff --git a/net/rds/message.c b/net/rds/message.c
index 4bd9504ca048..f4c3be0878e9 100644
--- a/net/rds/message.c
+++ b/net/rds/message.c
@@ -330,8 +330,6 @@ int rds_message_copy_from_user(struct rds_message *rm, struct iovec *first_iov,
 			sg++;
 	}
 
-	rm->data.op_active = 1;
-
 out:
 	return ret;
 }
diff --git a/net/rds/send.c b/net/rds/send.c
index 66dc6b045261..ad89a63c4304 100644
--- a/net/rds/send.c
+++ b/net/rds/send.c
@@ -970,11 +970,14 @@ int rds_sendmsg(struct kiocb *iocb, struct socket *sock, struct msghdr *msg,
 		goto out;
 	}
 
-	rm->data.op_sg = rds_message_alloc_sgs(rm, ceil(payload_len, PAGE_SIZE));
-	/* XXX fix this to not allocate memory */
-	ret = rds_message_copy_from_user(rm, msg->msg_iov, payload_len);
-	if (ret)
-		goto out;
+	/* Attach data to the rm */
+	if (payload_len) {
+		rm->data.op_sg = rds_message_alloc_sgs(rm, ceil(payload_len, PAGE_SIZE));
+		ret = rds_message_copy_from_user(rm, msg->msg_iov, payload_len);
+		if (ret)
+			goto out;
+	}
+	rm->data.op_active = 1;
 
 	rm->m_daddr = daddr;