diff --git a/include/os/linux/spl/sys/kmem.h b/include/os/linux/spl/sys/kmem.h
index fe34de9c1..705f9c4d7 100644
--- a/include/os/linux/spl/sys/kmem.h
+++ b/include/os/linux/spl/sys/kmem.h
@@ -66,7 +66,10 @@ void *spl_kvmalloc(size_t size, gfp_t flags);
 static inline gfp_t
 kmem_flags_convert(int flags)
 {
-	gfp_t lflags = __GFP_NOWARN | __GFP_COMP;
+	gfp_t lflags = __GFP_NOWARN;
+
+	if (!(flags & KM_VMEM))
+		lflags |= __GFP_COMP;
 
 	if (flags & KM_NOSLEEP) {
 		lflags |= GFP_ATOMIC | __GFP_NORETRY;
diff --git a/module/os/linux/spl/spl-kmem-cache.c b/module/os/linux/spl/spl-kmem-cache.c
index 211180e08..3b9518a60 100644
--- a/module/os/linux/spl/spl-kmem-cache.c
+++ b/module/os/linux/spl/spl-kmem-cache.c
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ static void spl_cache_shrink(spl_kmem_cache_t *skc, void *obj);
 static void *
 kv_alloc(spl_kmem_cache_t *skc, int size, int flags)
 {
-	gfp_t lflags = kmem_flags_convert(flags);
+	gfp_t lflags = kmem_flags_convert(flags | KM_VMEM);
 	void *ptr;
 
 	if (skc->skc_flags & KMC_RECLAIMABLE)