diff --git a/arch/ia64/kernel/perfmon.c b/arch/ia64/kernel/perfmon.c
index 3b38c717008a..e859246badca 100644
--- a/arch/ia64/kernel/perfmon.c
+++ b/arch/ia64/kernel/perfmon.c
@@ -2278,7 +2278,7 @@ pfm_smpl_buffer_alloc(struct task_struct *task, struct file *filp, pfm_context_t
 	DPRINT(("smpl_buf @%p\n", smpl_buf));
 
 	/* allocate vma */
-	vma = kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	vma = vm_area_alloc();
 	if (!vma) {
 		DPRINT(("Cannot allocate vma\n"));
 		goto error_kmem;
@@ -2346,7 +2346,7 @@ pfm_smpl_buffer_alloc(struct task_struct *task, struct file *filp, pfm_context_t
 	return 0;
 
 error:
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+	vm_area_free(vma);
 error_kmem:
 	pfm_rvfree(smpl_buf, size);
 
diff --git a/arch/ia64/mm/init.c b/arch/ia64/mm/init.c
index 18278b448530..3f2321bffb72 100644
--- a/arch/ia64/mm/init.c
+++ b/arch/ia64/mm/init.c
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ ia64_init_addr_space (void)
 	 * the problem.  When the process attempts to write to the register backing store
 	 * for the first time, it will get a SEGFAULT in this case.
 	 */
-	vma = kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	vma = vm_area_alloc();
 	if (vma) {
 		INIT_LIST_HEAD(&vma->anon_vma_chain);
 		vma->vm_mm = current->mm;
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ ia64_init_addr_space (void)
 		down_write(&current->mm->mmap_sem);
 		if (insert_vm_struct(current->mm, vma)) {
 			up_write(&current->mm->mmap_sem);
-			kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+			vm_area_free(vma);
 			return;
 		}
 		up_write(&current->mm->mmap_sem);
@@ -133,7 +133,7 @@ ia64_init_addr_space (void)
 
 	/* map NaT-page at address zero to speed up speculative dereferencing of NULL: */
 	if (!(current->personality & MMAP_PAGE_ZERO)) {
-		vma = kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+		vma = vm_area_alloc();
 		if (vma) {
 			INIT_LIST_HEAD(&vma->anon_vma_chain);
 			vma->vm_mm = current->mm;
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ ia64_init_addr_space (void)
 			down_write(&current->mm->mmap_sem);
 			if (insert_vm_struct(current->mm, vma)) {
 				up_write(&current->mm->mmap_sem);
-				kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+				vm_area_free(vma);
 				return;
 			}
 			up_write(&current->mm->mmap_sem);
diff --git a/fs/exec.c b/fs/exec.c
index 2d4e0075bd24..9bd83989ea25 100644
--- a/fs/exec.c
+++ b/fs/exec.c
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ static int __bprm_mm_init(struct linux_binprm *bprm)
 	struct vm_area_struct *vma = NULL;
 	struct mm_struct *mm = bprm->mm;
 
-	bprm->vma = vma = kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	bprm->vma = vma = vm_area_alloc();
 	if (!vma)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
@@ -326,7 +326,7 @@ err:
 	up_write(&mm->mmap_sem);
 err_free:
 	bprm->vma = NULL;
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+	vm_area_free(vma);
 	return err;
 }
 
diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index 3982c83fdcbf..de2fd86c6154 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -155,7 +155,9 @@ extern int overcommit_kbytes_handler(struct ctl_table *, int, void __user *,
  * mmap() functions).
  */
 
-extern struct kmem_cache *vm_area_cachep;
+struct vm_area_struct *vm_area_alloc(void);
+struct vm_area_struct *vm_area_dup(struct vm_area_struct *);
+void vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *);
 
 #ifndef CONFIG_MMU
 extern struct rb_root nommu_region_tree;
diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index 9440d61b925c..0e23deb5acfc 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -303,11 +303,26 @@ struct kmem_cache *files_cachep;
 struct kmem_cache *fs_cachep;
 
 /* SLAB cache for vm_area_struct structures */
-struct kmem_cache *vm_area_cachep;
+static struct kmem_cache *vm_area_cachep;
 
 /* SLAB cache for mm_struct structures (tsk->mm) */
 static struct kmem_cache *mm_cachep;
 
+struct vm_area_struct *vm_area_alloc(void)
+{
+	return kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+}
+
+struct vm_area_struct *vm_area_dup(struct vm_area_struct *orig)
+{
+	return kmem_cache_alloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+}
+
+void vm_area_free(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
+{
+	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+}
+
 static void account_kernel_stack(struct task_struct *tsk, int account)
 {
 	void *stack = task_stack_page(tsk);
@@ -455,7 +470,7 @@ static __latent_entropy int dup_mmap(struct mm_struct *mm,
 				goto fail_nomem;
 			charge = len;
 		}
-		tmp = kmem_cache_alloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+		tmp = vm_area_dup(mpnt);
 		if (!tmp)
 			goto fail_nomem;
 		*tmp = *mpnt;
@@ -539,7 +554,7 @@ fail_uprobe_end:
 fail_nomem_anon_vma_fork:
 	mpol_put(vma_policy(tmp));
 fail_nomem_policy:
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, tmp);
+	vm_area_free(tmp);
 fail_nomem:
 	retval = -ENOMEM;
 	vm_unacct_memory(charge);
diff --git a/mm/mmap.c b/mm/mmap.c
index 5801b5f0a634..4286ad2dd1f5 100644
--- a/mm/mmap.c
+++ b/mm/mmap.c
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ static struct vm_area_struct *remove_vma(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 	if (vma->vm_file)
 		fput(vma->vm_file);
 	mpol_put(vma_policy(vma));
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+	vm_area_free(vma);
 	return next;
 }
 
@@ -911,7 +911,7 @@ again:
 			anon_vma_merge(vma, next);
 		mm->map_count--;
 		mpol_put(vma_policy(next));
-		kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, next);
+		vm_area_free(next);
 		/*
 		 * In mprotect's case 6 (see comments on vma_merge),
 		 * we must remove another next too. It would clutter
@@ -1729,7 +1729,7 @@ unsigned long mmap_region(struct file *file, unsigned long addr,
 	 * specific mapper. the address has already been validated, but
 	 * not unmapped, but the maps are removed from the list.
 	 */
-	vma = kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	vma = vm_area_alloc();
 	if (!vma) {
 		error = -ENOMEM;
 		goto unacct_error;
@@ -1832,7 +1832,7 @@ allow_write_and_free_vma:
 	if (vm_flags & VM_DENYWRITE)
 		allow_write_access(file);
 free_vma:
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+	vm_area_free(vma);
 unacct_error:
 	if (charged)
 		vm_unacct_memory(charged);
@@ -2620,7 +2620,7 @@ int __split_vma(struct mm_struct *mm, struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 			return err;
 	}
 
-	new = kmem_cache_alloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	new = vm_area_dup(vma);
 	if (!new)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
@@ -2669,7 +2669,7 @@ int __split_vma(struct mm_struct *mm, struct vm_area_struct *vma,
  out_free_mpol:
 	mpol_put(vma_policy(new));
  out_free_vma:
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, new);
+	vm_area_free(new);
 	return err;
 }
 
@@ -2984,7 +2984,7 @@ static int do_brk_flags(unsigned long addr, unsigned long len, unsigned long fla
 	/*
 	 * create a vma struct for an anonymous mapping
 	 */
-	vma = kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	vma = vm_area_alloc();
 	if (!vma) {
 		vm_unacct_memory(len >> PAGE_SHIFT);
 		return -ENOMEM;
@@ -3202,7 +3202,7 @@ struct vm_area_struct *copy_vma(struct vm_area_struct **vmap,
 		}
 		*need_rmap_locks = (new_vma->vm_pgoff <= vma->vm_pgoff);
 	} else {
-		new_vma = kmem_cache_alloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+		new_vma = vm_area_dup(vma);
 		if (!new_vma)
 			goto out;
 		*new_vma = *vma;
@@ -3226,7 +3226,7 @@ struct vm_area_struct *copy_vma(struct vm_area_struct **vmap,
 out_free_mempol:
 	mpol_put(vma_policy(new_vma));
 out_free_vma:
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, new_vma);
+	vm_area_free(new_vma);
 out:
 	return NULL;
 }
@@ -3350,7 +3350,7 @@ static struct vm_area_struct *__install_special_mapping(
 	int ret;
 	struct vm_area_struct *vma;
 
-	vma = kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	vma = vm_area_alloc();
 	if (unlikely(vma == NULL))
 		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 
@@ -3376,7 +3376,7 @@ static struct vm_area_struct *__install_special_mapping(
 	return vma;
 
 out:
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+	vm_area_free(vma);
 	return ERR_PTR(ret);
 }
 
diff --git a/mm/nommu.c b/mm/nommu.c
index 4452d8bd9ae4..006e3fe65017 100644
--- a/mm/nommu.c
+++ b/mm/nommu.c
@@ -769,7 +769,7 @@ static void delete_vma(struct mm_struct *mm, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 	if (vma->vm_file)
 		fput(vma->vm_file);
 	put_nommu_region(vma->vm_region);
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+	vm_area_free(vma);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -1204,7 +1204,7 @@ unsigned long do_mmap(struct file *file,
 	if (!region)
 		goto error_getting_region;
 
-	vma = kmem_cache_zalloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	vma = vm_area_alloc();
 	if (!vma)
 		goto error_getting_vma;
 
@@ -1368,7 +1368,7 @@ error:
 	kmem_cache_free(vm_region_jar, region);
 	if (vma->vm_file)
 		fput(vma->vm_file);
-	kmem_cache_free(vm_area_cachep, vma);
+	vm_area_free(vma);
 	return ret;
 
 sharing_violation:
@@ -1469,7 +1469,7 @@ int split_vma(struct mm_struct *mm, struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 	if (!region)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
-	new = kmem_cache_alloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+	new = vm_area_dup(vma);
 	if (!new) {
 		kmem_cache_free(vm_region_jar, region);
 		return -ENOMEM;