diff --git a/fs/netfs/direct_write.c b/fs/netfs/direct_write.c
index f33ccddaa826..fbcfadb232ee 100644
--- a/fs/netfs/direct_write.c
+++ b/fs/netfs/direct_write.c
@@ -121,8 +121,14 @@ static int netfs_unbuffered_write(struct netfs_io_request *wreq)
 		}
 
 		iov_iter_truncate(&subreq->io_iter, wreq->len - wreq->transferred);
-		if (!iov_iter_count(&subreq->io_iter))
+		if (!iov_iter_count(&subreq->io_iter)) {
+			pr_warn("netfs: Unexpected zero-length iterator R=%08x\n",
+				wreq->debug_id);
+			__set_bit(NETFS_SREQ_FAILED, &subreq->flags);
+			netfs_write_subrequest_terminated(subreq, -EIO);
+			wreq->error = -EIO;
 			break;
+		}
 
 		subreq->len = netfs_limit_iter(&subreq->io_iter, 0,
 					       stream->sreq_max_len,