diff --git a/fs/ceph/file.c b/fs/ceph/file.c
index 67468d88f139..851d70200c6b 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/file.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/file.c
@@ -1552,7 +1552,7 @@ ceph_direct_read_write(struct kiocb *iocb, struct iov_iter *iter,
 		}
 
 		op = &req->r_ops[0];
-		if (sparse) {
+		if (!write && sparse) {
 			extent_cnt = __ceph_sparse_read_ext_count(inode, size);
 			ret = ceph_alloc_sparse_ext_map(op, extent_cnt);
 			if (ret) {
diff --git a/net/ceph/osd_client.c b/net/ceph/osd_client.c
index 9b1168eb77ab..b24afec24138 100644
--- a/net/ceph/osd_client.c
+++ b/net/ceph/osd_client.c
@@ -1173,6 +1173,8 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(ceph_osdc_new_request);
 
 int __ceph_alloc_sparse_ext_map(struct ceph_osd_req_op *op, int cnt)
 {
+	WARN_ON(op->op != CEPH_OSD_OP_SPARSE_READ);
+
 	op->extent.sparse_ext_cnt = cnt;
 	op->extent.sparse_ext = kmalloc_array(cnt,
 					      sizeof(*op->extent.sparse_ext),