diff --git a/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.c b/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.c
index 1192c995362007ef538ce730ba011d302bb34b2a..c3af99e94f1d1ea940aff1b417a46be0421a5573 100644
--- a/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.c
+++ b/fs/notify/fanotify/fanotify.c
@@ -129,11 +129,15 @@ static bool fanotify_should_merge(struct fsnotify_event *old_fsn,
 	return false;
 }
 
+/* Limit event merges to limit CPU overhead per event */
+#define FANOTIFY_MAX_MERGE_EVENTS 128
+
 /* and the list better be locked by something too! */
 static int fanotify_merge(struct list_head *list, struct fsnotify_event *event)
 {
 	struct fsnotify_event *test_event;
 	struct fanotify_event *new;
+	int i = 0;
 
 	pr_debug("%s: list=%p event=%p\n", __func__, list, event);
 	new = FANOTIFY_E(event);
@@ -147,6 +151,8 @@ static int fanotify_merge(struct list_head *list, struct fsnotify_event *event)
 		return 0;
 
 	list_for_each_entry_reverse(test_event, list, list) {
+		if (++i > FANOTIFY_MAX_MERGE_EVENTS)
+			break;
 		if (fanotify_should_merge(test_event, event)) {
 			FANOTIFY_E(test_event)->mask |= new->mask;
 			return 1;