diff --git a/drivers/char/mem.c b/drivers/char/mem.c
index ffeb60d3434c..df66a9dd0aae 100644
--- a/drivers/char/mem.c
+++ b/drivers/char/mem.c
@@ -708,6 +708,7 @@ static int mmap_zero(struct file *file, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 #endif
 	if (vma->vm_flags & VM_SHARED)
 		return shmem_zero_setup(vma);
+	vma_set_anonymous(vma);
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/fs/exec.c b/fs/exec.c
index 72e961a62adb..bdd0eacefdf5 100644
--- a/fs/exec.c
+++ b/fs/exec.c
@@ -293,6 +293,7 @@ static int __bprm_mm_init(struct linux_binprm *bprm)
 	bprm->vma = vma = vm_area_alloc(mm);
 	if (!vma)
 		return -ENOMEM;
+	vma_set_anonymous(vma);
 
 	if (down_write_killable(&mm->mmap_sem)) {
 		err = -EINTR;
diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index 31540f166987..7ba6d356d18f 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -454,10 +454,18 @@ struct vm_operations_struct {
 
 static inline void vma_init(struct vm_area_struct *vma, struct mm_struct *mm)
 {
+	static const struct vm_operations_struct dummy_vm_ops = {};
+
 	vma->vm_mm = mm;
+	vma->vm_ops = &dummy_vm_ops;
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&vma->anon_vma_chain);
 }
 
+static inline void vma_set_anonymous(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
+{
+	vma->vm_ops = NULL;
+}
+
 struct mmu_gather;
 struct inode;
 
diff --git a/mm/mmap.c b/mm/mmap.c
index ff1944d8d458..17bbf4d3e24f 100644
--- a/mm/mmap.c
+++ b/mm/mmap.c
@@ -1778,6 +1778,8 @@ unsigned long mmap_region(struct file *file, unsigned long addr,
 		error = shmem_zero_setup(vma);
 		if (error)
 			goto free_vma;
+	} else {
+		vma_set_anonymous(vma);
 	}
 
 	vma_link(mm, vma, prev, rb_link, rb_parent);
@@ -2983,6 +2985,7 @@ static int do_brk_flags(unsigned long addr, unsigned long len, unsigned long fla
 		return -ENOMEM;
 	}
 
+	vma_set_anonymous(vma);
 	vma->vm_start = addr;
 	vma->vm_end = addr + len;
 	vma->vm_pgoff = pgoff;
diff --git a/mm/nommu.c b/mm/nommu.c
index 1d22fdbf7d7c..9fc9e43335b6 100644
--- a/mm/nommu.c
+++ b/mm/nommu.c
@@ -1145,6 +1145,8 @@ static int do_mmap_private(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 		if (ret < len)
 			memset(base + ret, 0, len - ret);
 
+	} else {
+		vma_set_anonymous(vma);
 	}
 
 	return 0;