diff --git a/io_uring/io_uring.c b/io_uring/io_uring.c
index 53ec5bb245c8..a2de3c491d27 100644
--- a/io_uring/io_uring.c
+++ b/io_uring/io_uring.c
@@ -2890,6 +2890,8 @@ static void *io_pages_map(struct page ***out_pages, unsigned short *npages,
 	ret = io_mem_alloc_compound(pages, nr_pages, size, gfp);
 	if (!IS_ERR(ret))
 		goto done;
+	if (nr_pages == 1)
+		goto fail;
 
 	ret = io_mem_alloc_single(pages, nr_pages, size, gfp);
 	if (!IS_ERR(ret)) {
@@ -2898,7 +2900,7 @@ done:
 		*npages = nr_pages;
 		return ret;
 	}
-
+fail:
 	kvfree(pages);
 	*out_pages = NULL;
 	*npages = 0;