diff --git a/fs/seq_file.c b/fs/seq_file.c
index cde1bdbf7801..3714ae1d5e1c 100644
--- a/fs/seq_file.c
+++ b/fs/seq_file.c
@@ -828,8 +828,14 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(seq_write);
 void seq_pad(struct seq_file *m, char c)
 {
 	int size = m->pad_until - m->count;
-	if (size > 0)
-		seq_printf(m, "%*s", size, "");
+	if (size > 0) {
+		if (size + m->count > m->size) {
+			seq_set_overflow(m);
+			return;
+		}
+		memset(m->buf + m->count, ' ', size);
+		m->count += size;
+	}
 	if (c)
 		seq_putc(m, c);
 }