diff --git a/include/net/9p/9p.h b/include/net/9p/9p.h
index 7aefa6d..eaa45f9 100644
--- a/include/net/9p/9p.h
+++ b/include/net/9p/9p.h
@@ -688,7 +688,7 @@
  * @id: protocol operating identifier of type &p9_msg_t
  * @tag: transaction id of the request
  * @offset: used by marshalling routines to track currentposition in buffer
- * @capacity: used by marshalling routines to track total capacity
+ * @capacity: used by marshalling routines to track total malloc'd capacity
  * @pubuf: Payload user buffer given by the caller
  * @pubuf: Payload kernel buffer given by the caller
  * @pbuf_size: pubuf/pkbuf(only one will be !NULL) size to be read/write.
diff --git a/net/9p/client.c b/net/9p/client.c
index 251abb1..43ec78a 100644
--- a/net/9p/client.c
+++ b/net/9p/client.c
@@ -229,10 +229,23 @@
 			return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 		}
 		init_waitqueue_head(req->wq);
-		req->tc = kmalloc(sizeof(struct p9_fcall)+c->msize,
-								GFP_KERNEL);
-		req->rc = kmalloc(sizeof(struct p9_fcall)+c->msize,
-								GFP_KERNEL);
+		if ((c->trans_mod->pref & P9_TRANS_PREF_PAYLOAD_MASK) ==
+				P9_TRANS_PREF_PAYLOAD_SEP) {
+			int alloc_msize = min(c->msize, 4096);
+			req->tc = kmalloc(sizeof(struct p9_fcall)+alloc_msize,
+					GFP_KERNEL);
+			req->tc->capacity = alloc_msize;
+			req->rc = kmalloc(sizeof(struct p9_fcall)+alloc_msize,
+					GFP_KERNEL);
+			req->rc->capacity = alloc_msize;
+		} else {
+			req->tc = kmalloc(sizeof(struct p9_fcall)+c->msize,
+					GFP_KERNEL);
+			req->tc->capacity = c->msize;
+			req->rc = kmalloc(sizeof(struct p9_fcall)+c->msize,
+					GFP_KERNEL);
+			req->rc->capacity = c->msize;
+		}
 		if ((!req->tc) || (!req->rc)) {
 			printk(KERN_ERR "Couldn't grow tag array\n");
 			kfree(req->tc);
@@ -243,9 +256,7 @@
 			return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 		}
 		req->tc->sdata = (char *) req->tc + sizeof(struct p9_fcall);
-		req->tc->capacity = c->msize;
 		req->rc->sdata = (char *) req->rc + sizeof(struct p9_fcall);
-		req->rc->capacity = c->msize;
 	}
 
 	p9pdu_reset(req->tc);