diff --git a/fs/ext4/inode.c b/fs/ext4/inode.c
index 8e6ebeca39239..a26e5ed6d61cc 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/inode.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/inode.c
@@ -6059,6 +6059,14 @@ static int __ext4_expand_extra_isize(struct inode *inode,
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * We may need to allocate external xattr block so we need quotas
+	 * initialized. Here we can be called with various locks held so we
+	 * cannot affort to initialize quotas ourselves. So just bail.
+	 */
+	if (dquot_initialize_needed(inode))
+		return -EAGAIN;
+
 	/* try to expand with EAs present */
 	error = ext4_expand_extra_isize_ea(inode, new_extra_isize,
 					   raw_inode, handle);