diff --git a/include/linux/vmalloc.h b/include/linux/vmalloc.h
index 132b260aef1e..c2b10cae5da5 100644
--- a/include/linux/vmalloc.h
+++ b/include/linux/vmalloc.h
@@ -70,6 +70,10 @@ extern int map_vm_area(struct vm_struct *area, pgprot_t prot,
 			struct page ***pages);
 extern void unmap_kernel_range(unsigned long addr, unsigned long size);
 
+/* Allocate/destroy a 'vmalloc' VM area. */
+extern struct vm_struct *alloc_vm_area(size_t size);
+extern void free_vm_area(struct vm_struct *area);
+
 /*
  *	Internals.  Dont't use..
  */
diff --git a/mm/vmalloc.c b/mm/vmalloc.c
index 8e05a11155c9..3130c343088f 100644
--- a/mm/vmalloc.c
+++ b/mm/vmalloc.c
@@ -767,3 +767,56 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(remap_vmalloc_range);
 void  __attribute__((weak)) vmalloc_sync_all(void)
 {
 }
+
+
+static int f(pte_t *pte, struct page *pmd_page, unsigned long addr, void *data)
+{
+	/* apply_to_page_range() does all the hard work. */
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/**
+ *	alloc_vm_area - allocate a range of kernel address space
+ *	@size:		size of the area
+ *	@returns:	NULL on failure, vm_struct on success
+ *
+ *	This function reserves a range of kernel address space, and
+ *	allocates pagetables to map that range.  No actual mappings
+ *	are created.  If the kernel address space is not shared
+ *	between processes, it syncs the pagetable across all
+ *	processes.
+ */
+struct vm_struct *alloc_vm_area(size_t size)
+{
+	struct vm_struct *area;
+
+	area = get_vm_area(size, VM_IOREMAP);
+	if (area == NULL)
+		return NULL;
+
+	/*
+	 * This ensures that page tables are constructed for this region
+	 * of kernel virtual address space and mapped into init_mm.
+	 */
+	if (apply_to_page_range(&init_mm, (unsigned long)area->addr,
+				area->size, f, NULL)) {
+		free_vm_area(area);
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	/* Make sure the pagetables are constructed in process kernel
+	   mappings */
+	vmalloc_sync_all();
+
+	return area;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(alloc_vm_area);
+
+void free_vm_area(struct vm_struct *area)
+{
+	struct vm_struct *ret;
+	ret = remove_vm_area(area->addr);
+	BUG_ON(ret != area);
+	kfree(area);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(free_vm_area);