diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_fcoe.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_fcoe.c
index e67b1a59ecb7..0fcd82036d4e 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_fcoe.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbe/ixgbe_fcoe.c
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ static int ixgbe_fcoe_ddp_setup(struct net_device *netdev, u16 xid,
 	}
 
 	/* alloc the udl from per cpu ddp pool */
-	ddp->udl = dma_pool_alloc(ddp_pool->pool, GFP_KERNEL, &ddp->udp);
+	ddp->udl = dma_pool_alloc(ddp_pool->pool, GFP_ATOMIC, &ddp->udp);
 	if (!ddp->udl) {
 		e_err(drv, "failed allocated ddp context\n");
 		goto out_noddp_unmap;