struct nvmet_req        req;
 
+       bool                    allocated;
        u8                      n_rdma;
        u32                     flags;
        u32                     invalidate_rkey;
        unsigned long flags;
 
        spin_lock_irqsave(&queue->rsps_lock, flags);
-       rsp = list_first_entry(&queue->free_rsps,
+       rsp = list_first_entry_or_null(&queue->free_rsps,
                                struct nvmet_rdma_rsp, free_list);
-       list_del(&rsp->free_list);
+       if (likely(rsp))
+               list_del(&rsp->free_list);
        spin_unlock_irqrestore(&queue->rsps_lock, flags);
 
+       if (unlikely(!rsp)) {
+               rsp = kmalloc(sizeof(*rsp), GFP_KERNEL);
+               if (unlikely(!rsp))
+                       return NULL;
+               rsp->allocated = true;
+       }
+
        return rsp;
 }
 
 {
        unsigned long flags;
 
+       if (rsp->allocated) {
+               kfree(rsp);
+               return;
+       }
+
        spin_lock_irqsave(&rsp->queue->rsps_lock, flags);
        list_add_tail(&rsp->free_list, &rsp->queue->free_rsps);
        spin_unlock_irqrestore(&rsp->queue->rsps_lock, flags);
 
        cmd->queue = queue;
        rsp = nvmet_rdma_get_rsp(queue);
+       if (unlikely(!rsp)) {
+               /*
+                * we get here only under memory pressure,
+                * silently drop and have the host retry
+                * as we can't even fail it.
+                */
+               nvmet_rdma_post_recv(queue->dev, cmd);
+               return;
+       }
        rsp->queue = queue;
        rsp->cmd = cmd;
        rsp->flags = 0;