diff --git a/net/sched/act_api.c b/net/sched/act_api.c
index 2ba51db8810fd6..7d079726688a72 100644
--- a/net/sched/act_api.c
+++ b/net/sched/act_api.c
@@ -281,25 +281,27 @@ int tcf_idr_create(struct tc_action_net *tn, u32 index, struct nlattr *est,
 	spin_lock_init(&p->tcfa_lock);
 	/* user doesn't specify an index */
 	if (!index) {
+		idr_preload(GFP_KERNEL);
 		spin_lock_bh(&idrinfo->lock);
 		err = idr_alloc_ext(idr, NULL, &idr_index, 1, 0,
-				    GFP_KERNEL);
+				    GFP_ATOMIC);
 		spin_unlock_bh(&idrinfo->lock);
+		idr_preload_end();
 		if (err) {
 err3:
 			free_percpu(p->cpu_qstats);
 			goto err2;
 		}
 		p->tcfa_index = idr_index;
-	}
-	else {
+	} else {
+		idr_preload(GFP_KERNEL);
 		spin_lock_bh(&idrinfo->lock);
 		err = idr_alloc_ext(idr, NULL, NULL, index, index + 1,
-				    GFP_KERNEL);
+				    GFP_ATOMIC);
 		spin_unlock_bh(&idrinfo->lock);
-		if (err) {
+		idr_preload_end();
+		if (err)
 			goto err3;
-		}
 		p->tcfa_index = index;
 	}