diff --git a/arch/blackfin/mm/sram-alloc.c b/arch/blackfin/mm/sram-alloc.c
index 49b2ff2c8b74..627e04b5ba9a 100644
--- a/arch/blackfin/mm/sram-alloc.c
+++ b/arch/blackfin/mm/sram-alloc.c
@@ -256,7 +256,8 @@ static void *_sram_alloc(size_t size, struct sram_piece *pfree_head,
 		plast->next = pslot->next;
 		pavail = pslot;
 	} else {
-		pavail = kmem_cache_alloc(sram_piece_cache, GFP_KERNEL);
+		/* use atomic so our L1 allocator can be used atomically */
+		pavail = kmem_cache_alloc(sram_piece_cache, GFP_ATOMIC);
 
 		if (!pavail)
 			return NULL;