diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo.c
index 3becddd2c43b..6bbea148838e 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/ttm/ttm_bo.c
@@ -495,6 +495,10 @@ struct ttm_bo_alloc_state {
 	struct dmem_cgroup_pool_state *limit_pool;
 	/** @in_evict: Whether we are currently evicting buffers */
 	bool in_evict;
+	/** @may_try_low: If only unprotected BOs, i.e. BOs whose cgroup
+	 *  is exceeding its dmem low/min protection, should be considered for eviction
+	 */
+	bool may_try_low;
 };
 
 /**
@@ -537,12 +541,50 @@ static int ttm_bo_alloc_at_place(struct ttm_buffer_object *bo,
 			 * retried with eviction, or -ENOSPC if there should
 			 * be no second attempt.
 			 */
+			if (!alloc_state->in_evict)
+				alloc_state->may_try_low = may_evict;
 			if (ret == -EAGAIN)
 				ret = may_evict ? -EBUSY : -ENOSPC;
 			return ret;
 		}
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * cgroup protection plays a special role in eviction.
+	 * Conceptually, protection of memory via the dmem cgroup controller
+	 * entitles the protected cgroup to use a certain amount of memory.
+	 * There are two types of protection - the 'low' limit is a
+	 * "best-effort" protection, whereas the 'min' limit provides a hard
+	 * guarantee that memory within the cgroup's allowance will not be
+	 * evicted under any circumstance.
+	 *
+	 * To faithfully model this concept in TTM, we also need to take cgroup
+	 * protection into account when allocating. When allocation in one
+	 * place fails, TTM will default to trying other places first before
+	 * evicting.
+	 * If the allocation is covered by dmem cgroup protection, however,
+	 * this prevents the allocation from using the memory it is "entitled"
+	 * to. To make sure unprotected allocations cannot push new protected
+	 * allocations out of places they are "entitled" to use, we should
+	 * evict buffers not covered by any cgroup protection, if this
+	 * allocation is covered by cgroup protection.
+	 *
+	 * Buffers covered by 'min' protection are a special case - the 'min'
+	 * limit is a stronger guarantee than 'low', and thus buffers protected
+	 * by 'low' but not 'min' should also be considered for eviction.
+	 * Buffers protected by 'min' will never be considered for eviction
+	 * anyway, so the regular eviction path should be triggered here.
+	 * Buffers protected by 'low' but not 'min' will take a special
+	 * eviction path that only evicts buffers covered by neither 'low' or
+	 * 'min' protections.
+	 */
+	if (!alloc_state->in_evict) {
+		may_evict |= dmem_cgroup_below_min(NULL, alloc_state->charge_pool);
+		alloc_state->may_try_low = may_evict;
+
+		may_evict |= dmem_cgroup_below_low(NULL, alloc_state->charge_pool);
+	}
+
 	ret = ttm_resource_alloc(bo, place, res, alloc_state->charge_pool);
 	if (ret) {
 		if (ret == -ENOSPC && may_evict)
@@ -656,8 +698,12 @@ static int ttm_bo_evict_alloc(struct ttm_device *bdev,
 	evict_walk.walk.arg.trylock_only = true;
 	lret = ttm_lru_walk_for_evict(&evict_walk.walk, bdev, man, 1);
 
-	/* One more attempt if we hit low limit? */
-	if (!lret && evict_walk.hit_low) {
+	/* If we failed to find enough BOs to evict, but we skipped over
+	 * some BOs because they were covered by dmem low protection, retry
+	 * evicting these protected BOs too, except if we're told not to
+	 * consider protected BOs at all.
+	 */
+	if (!lret && evict_walk.hit_low && state->may_try_low) {
 		evict_walk.try_low = true;
 		lret = ttm_lru_walk_for_evict(&evict_walk.walk, bdev, man, 1);
 	}
@@ -678,7 +724,8 @@ static int ttm_bo_evict_alloc(struct ttm_device *bdev,
 	} while (!lret && evict_walk.evicted);
 
 	/* We hit the low limit? Try once more */
-	if (!lret && evict_walk.hit_low && !evict_walk.try_low) {
+	if (!lret && evict_walk.hit_low && !evict_walk.try_low &&
+			state->may_try_low) {
 		evict_walk.try_low = true;
 		goto retry;
 	}