diff --git a/net/core/skbuff.c b/net/core/skbuff.c
index 026f4525063c..5582a4ed7c2f 100644
--- a/net/core/skbuff.c
+++ b/net/core/skbuff.c
@@ -489,13 +489,17 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(__netdev_alloc_skb);
 struct sk_buff *__napi_alloc_skb(struct napi_struct *napi, unsigned int len,
 				 gfp_t gfp_mask)
 {
-	struct napi_alloc_cache *nc = this_cpu_ptr(&napi_alloc_cache);
+	struct napi_alloc_cache *nc;
 	struct sk_buff *skb;
 	void *data;
 
 	len += NET_SKB_PAD + NET_IP_ALIGN;
 
-	if ((len > SKB_WITH_OVERHEAD(PAGE_SIZE)) ||
+	/* If requested length is either too small or too big,
+	 * we use kmalloc() for skb->head allocation.
+	 */
+	if (len <= SKB_WITH_OVERHEAD(1024) ||
+	    len > SKB_WITH_OVERHEAD(PAGE_SIZE) ||
 	    (gfp_mask & (__GFP_DIRECT_RECLAIM | GFP_DMA))) {
 		skb = __alloc_skb(len, gfp_mask, SKB_ALLOC_RX, NUMA_NO_NODE);
 		if (!skb)
@@ -503,6 +507,7 @@ struct sk_buff *__napi_alloc_skb(struct napi_struct *napi, unsigned int len,
 		goto skb_success;
 	}
 
+	nc = this_cpu_ptr(&napi_alloc_cache);
 	len += SKB_DATA_ALIGN(sizeof(struct skb_shared_info));
 	len = SKB_DATA_ALIGN(len);