diff --git a/drivers/block/null_blk/main.c b/drivers/block/null_blk/main.c
index 6beb1f5b7..d5ece457e 100644
--- a/drivers/block/null_blk/main.c
+++ b/drivers/block/null_blk/main.c
@@ -1861,8 +1861,17 @@ static int null_init_global_tag_set(void)
 		tag_set.flags |= BLK_MQ_F_NO_SCHED_BY_DEFAULT;
 	if (g_shared_tag_bitmap)
 		tag_set.flags |= BLK_MQ_F_TAG_HCTX_SHARED;
-	if (g_blocking)
-		tag_set.flags |= BLK_MQ_F_BLOCKING;
+
+	/*
+	 * A shared tag set may be used by a memory backed device, whose
+	 * ->queue_rq() performs GFP_NOIO allocations and therefore must be
+	 * allowed to sleep.  blk-mq picks its locking (RCU or SRCU) from
+	 * BLK_MQ_F_BLOCKING, so always mark the shared tag set blocking;
+	 * otherwise I/O submitted through blk_mq_run_dispatch_ops() runs
+	 * under the RCU read lock and triggers "sleeping function called
+	 * from invalid context" in null_alloc_page().
+	 */
+	tag_set.flags |= BLK_MQ_F_BLOCKING;
 
 	error = null_init_tag_set(&tag_set, g_poll_queues);
 	if (error)