diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index bb0d3ac80ade..9b7a7d0592e5 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(memory_cgrp_subsys);
 
 struct mem_cgroup *root_mem_cgroup __read_mostly;
 
+/* The number of times we should retry reclaim failures before giving up. */
 #define MEM_CGROUP_RECLAIM_RETRIES	5
 
 /* Socket memory accounting disabled? */
@@ -2363,18 +2364,23 @@ static int memcg_hotplug_cpu_dead(unsigned int cpu)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static void reclaim_high(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
-			 unsigned int nr_pages,
-			 gfp_t gfp_mask)
+static unsigned long reclaim_high(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
+				  unsigned int nr_pages,
+				  gfp_t gfp_mask)
 {
+	unsigned long nr_reclaimed = 0;
+
 	do {
 		if (page_counter_read(&memcg->memory) <=
 		    READ_ONCE(memcg->memory.high))
 			continue;
 		memcg_memory_event(memcg, MEMCG_HIGH);
-		try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages(memcg, nr_pages, gfp_mask, true);
+		nr_reclaimed += try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages(memcg, nr_pages,
+							     gfp_mask, true);
 	} while ((memcg = parent_mem_cgroup(memcg)) &&
 		 !mem_cgroup_is_root(memcg));
+
+	return nr_reclaimed;
 }
 
 static void high_work_func(struct work_struct *work)
@@ -2530,16 +2536,32 @@ void mem_cgroup_handle_over_high(void)
 {
 	unsigned long penalty_jiffies;
 	unsigned long pflags;
+	unsigned long nr_reclaimed;
 	unsigned int nr_pages = current->memcg_nr_pages_over_high;
+	int nr_retries = MEM_CGROUP_RECLAIM_RETRIES;
 	struct mem_cgroup *memcg;
+	bool in_retry = false;
 
 	if (likely(!nr_pages))
 		return;
 
 	memcg = get_mem_cgroup_from_mm(current->mm);
-	reclaim_high(memcg, nr_pages, GFP_KERNEL);
 	current->memcg_nr_pages_over_high = 0;
 
+retry_reclaim:
+	/*
+	 * The allocating task should reclaim at least the batch size, but for
+	 * subsequent retries we only want to do what's necessary to prevent oom
+	 * or breaching resource isolation.
+	 *
+	 * This is distinct from memory.max or page allocator behaviour because
+	 * memory.high is currently batched, whereas memory.max and the page
+	 * allocator run every time an allocation is made.
+	 */
+	nr_reclaimed = reclaim_high(memcg,
+				    in_retry ? SWAP_CLUSTER_MAX : nr_pages,
+				    GFP_KERNEL);
+
 	/*
 	 * memory.high is breached and reclaim is unable to keep up. Throttle
 	 * allocators proactively to slow down excessive growth.
@@ -2566,6 +2588,16 @@ void mem_cgroup_handle_over_high(void)
 	if (penalty_jiffies <= HZ / 100)
 		goto out;
 
+	/*
+	 * If reclaim is making forward progress but we're still over
+	 * memory.high, we want to encourage that rather than doing allocator
+	 * throttling.
+	 */
+	if (nr_reclaimed || nr_retries--) {
+		in_retry = true;
+		goto retry_reclaim;
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * If we exit early, we're guaranteed to die (since
 	 * schedule_timeout_killable sets TASK_KILLABLE). This means we don't