diff --git a/net/smc/smc_loopback.c b/net/smc/smc_loopback.c
index 0eb00bb..77cc1c6 100644
--- a/net/smc/smc_loopback.c
+++ b/net/smc/smc_loopback.c
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ static int smc_lo_register_dmb(struct smcd_dev *smcd, struct smcd_dmb *dmb,
 {
 	struct smc_lo_dmb_node *dmb_node, *tmp_node;
 	struct smc_lo_dev *ldev = smcd->priv;
+	struct folio *folio;
 	int sba_idx, rc;
 
 	/* check space for new dmb */
@@ -74,13 +75,16 @@ static int smc_lo_register_dmb(struct smcd_dev *smcd, struct smcd_dmb *dmb,
 
 	dmb_node->sba_idx = sba_idx;
 	dmb_node->len = dmb->dmb_len;
-	dmb_node->cpu_addr = kzalloc(dmb_node->len, GFP_KERNEL |
-				     __GFP_NOWARN | __GFP_NORETRY |
-				     __GFP_NOMEMALLOC);
-	if (!dmb_node->cpu_addr) {
+
+	/* not critical; fail under memory pressure and fallback to TCP */
+	folio = folio_alloc(GFP_KERNEL | __GFP_NOWARN | __GFP_NOMEMALLOC |
+			    __GFP_NORETRY | __GFP_ZERO,
+			    get_order(dmb_node->len));
+	if (!folio) {
 		rc = -ENOMEM;
 		goto err_node;
 	}
+	dmb_node->cpu_addr = folio_address(folio);
 	dmb_node->dma_addr = SMC_DMA_ADDR_INVALID;
 	refcount_set(&dmb_node->refcnt, 1);
 
@@ -122,7 +126,7 @@ static void __smc_lo_unregister_dmb(struct smc_lo_dev *ldev,
 	write_unlock_bh(&ldev->dmb_ht_lock);
 
 	clear_bit(dmb_node->sba_idx, ldev->sba_idx_mask);
-	kvfree(dmb_node->cpu_addr);
+	folio_put(virt_to_folio(dmb_node->cpu_addr));
 	kfree(dmb_node);
 
 	if (atomic_dec_and_test(&ldev->dmb_cnt))