diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/audit.h b/include/uapi/linux/audit.h
index 9176a095fefc..8eda133ca4c1 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/audit.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/audit.h
@@ -514,7 +514,7 @@ struct audit_rule_data {
 	__u32		values[AUDIT_MAX_FIELDS];
 	__u32		fieldflags[AUDIT_MAX_FIELDS];
 	__u32		buflen;	/* total length of string fields */
-	char		buf[0];	/* string fields buffer */
+	char		buf[];	/* string fields buffer */
 };
 
 #endif /* _UAPI_LINUX_AUDIT_H_ */
diff --git a/kernel/audit.c b/kernel/audit.c
index 79c146184729..e4bbe2c70c26 100644
--- a/kernel/audit.c
+++ b/kernel/audit.c
@@ -1444,7 +1444,7 @@ static int audit_receive_msg(struct sk_buff *skb, struct nlmsghdr *nlh)
 			if (err)
 				return err;
 		}
-		sig_data = kmalloc(sizeof(*sig_data) + len, GFP_KERNEL);
+		sig_data = kmalloc(struct_size(sig_data, ctx, len), GFP_KERNEL);
 		if (!sig_data) {
 			if (audit_sig_sid)
 				security_release_secctx(ctx, len);
@@ -1457,7 +1457,7 @@ static int audit_receive_msg(struct sk_buff *skb, struct nlmsghdr *nlh)
 			security_release_secctx(ctx, len);
 		}
 		audit_send_reply(skb, seq, AUDIT_SIGNAL_INFO, 0, 0,
-				 sig_data, sizeof(*sig_data) + len);
+				 sig_data, struct_size(sig_data, ctx, len));
 		kfree(sig_data);
 		break;
 	case AUDIT_TTY_GET: {
@@ -1540,6 +1540,20 @@ static void audit_receive(struct sk_buff  *skb)
 		nlh = nlmsg_next(nlh, &len);
 	}
 	audit_ctl_unlock();
+
+	/* can't block with the ctrl lock, so penalize the sender now */
+	if (audit_backlog_limit &&
+	    (skb_queue_len(&audit_queue) > audit_backlog_limit)) {
+		DECLARE_WAITQUEUE(wait, current);
+
+		/* wake kauditd to try and flush the queue */
+		wake_up_interruptible(&kauditd_wait);
+
+		add_wait_queue_exclusive(&audit_backlog_wait, &wait);
+		set_current_state(TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);
+		schedule_timeout(audit_backlog_wait_time);
+		remove_wait_queue(&audit_backlog_wait, &wait);
+	}
 }
 
 /* Log information about who is connecting to the audit multicast socket */
@@ -1824,7 +1838,9 @@ struct audit_buffer *audit_log_start(struct audit_context *ctx, gfp_t gfp_mask,
 	 *    task_tgid_vnr() since auditd_pid is set in audit_receive_msg()
 	 *    using a PID anchored in the caller's namespace
 	 * 2. generator holding the audit_cmd_mutex - we don't want to block
-	 *    while holding the mutex */
+	 *    while holding the mutex, although we do penalize the sender
+	 *    later in audit_receive() when it is safe to block
+	 */
 	if (!(auditd_test_task(current) || audit_ctl_owner_current())) {
 		long stime = audit_backlog_wait_time;
 
diff --git a/kernel/audit_tree.c b/kernel/audit_tree.c
index 72324afcffef..e7315d487163 100644
--- a/kernel/audit_tree.c
+++ b/kernel/audit_tree.c
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ static struct audit_tree *alloc_tree(const char *s)
 {
 	struct audit_tree *tree;
 
-	tree = kmalloc(sizeof(struct audit_tree) + strlen(s) + 1, GFP_KERNEL);
+	tree = kmalloc(struct_size(tree, pathname, strlen(s) + 1), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (tree) {
 		refcount_set(&tree->count, 1);
 		tree->goner = 0;
diff --git a/kernel/auditfilter.c b/kernel/auditfilter.c
index 4173e771650c..42d99896e7a6 100644
--- a/kernel/auditfilter.c
+++ b/kernel/auditfilter.c
@@ -637,7 +637,7 @@ static struct audit_rule_data *audit_krule_to_data(struct audit_krule *krule)
 	void *bufp;
 	int i;
 
-	data = kmalloc(sizeof(*data) + krule->buflen, GFP_KERNEL);
+	data = kmalloc(struct_size(data, buf, krule->buflen), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (unlikely(!data))
 		return NULL;
 	memset(data, 0, sizeof(*data));
@@ -1092,7 +1092,7 @@ static void audit_list_rules(int seq, struct sk_buff_head *q)
 				break;
 			skb = audit_make_reply(seq, AUDIT_LIST_RULES, 0, 1,
 					       data,
-					       sizeof(*data) + data->buflen);
+					       struct_size(data, buf, data->buflen));
 			if (skb)
 				skb_queue_tail(q, skb);
 			kfree(data);