diff --git a/lib/iov_iter.c b/lib/iov_iter.c
index 273919b16161..0f320b4e82a8 100644
--- a/lib/iov_iter.c
+++ b/lib/iov_iter.c
@@ -1568,6 +1568,7 @@ static ssize_t iov_iter_extract_xarray_pages(struct iov_iter *i,
 	struct folio *folio;
 	unsigned int nr = 0, offset;
 	loff_t pos = i->xarray_start + i->iov_offset;
+	bool will_alloc = !*pages;
 	XA_STATE(xas, i->xarray, pos >> PAGE_SHIFT);
 
 	offset = pos & ~PAGE_MASK;
@@ -1595,6 +1596,14 @@ static ssize_t iov_iter_extract_xarray_pages(struct iov_iter *i,
 	}
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 
+	if (!nr) {
+		if (will_alloc) {
+			kvfree(*pages);
+			*pages = NULL;
+		}
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	maxsize = min_t(size_t, nr * PAGE_SIZE - offset, maxsize);
 	iov_iter_advance(i, maxsize);
 	return maxsize;