diff --git a/drivers/char/mem.c b/drivers/char/mem.c
index ffeb60d3434c51..f0a8b0b1768bb6 100644
--- a/drivers/char/mem.c
+++ b/drivers/char/mem.c
@@ -708,6 +708,7 @@ static int mmap_zero(struct file *file, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 #endif
 	if (vma->vm_flags & VM_SHARED)
 		return shmem_zero_setup(vma);
+	vma->vm_ops = &anon_vm_ops;
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/fs/exec.c b/fs/exec.c
index 2d4e0075bd2457..a1a2460625611a 100644
--- a/fs/exec.c
+++ b/fs/exec.c
@@ -307,6 +307,7 @@ static int __bprm_mm_init(struct linux_binprm *bprm)
 	 * configured yet.
 	 */
 	BUILD_BUG_ON(VM_STACK_FLAGS & VM_STACK_INCOMPLETE_SETUP);
+	vma->vm_ops = &anon_vm_ops;
 	vma->vm_end = STACK_TOP_MAX;
 	vma->vm_start = vma->vm_end - PAGE_SIZE;
 	vma->vm_flags = VM_SOFTDIRTY | VM_STACK_FLAGS | VM_STACK_INCOMPLETE_SETUP;
diff --git a/fs/hugetlbfs/inode.c b/fs/hugetlbfs/inode.c
index d508c7844681fb..5ff73b1398ade3 100644
--- a/fs/hugetlbfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/hugetlbfs/inode.c
@@ -597,6 +597,7 @@ static long hugetlbfs_fallocate(struct file *file, int mode, loff_t offset,
 	memset(&pseudo_vma, 0, sizeof(struct vm_area_struct));
 	pseudo_vma.vm_flags = (VM_HUGETLB | VM_MAYSHARE | VM_SHARED);
 	pseudo_vma.vm_file = file;
+	pseudo_vma.vm_ops = &dummy_vm_ops;
 
 	for (index = start; index < end; index++) {
 		/*
diff --git a/include/linux/mm.h b/include/linux/mm.h
index 3982c83fdcbfa3..176adbdc51b38d 100644
--- a/include/linux/mm.h
+++ b/include/linux/mm.h
@@ -1536,9 +1536,12 @@ int clear_page_dirty_for_io(struct page *page);
 
 int get_cmdline(struct task_struct *task, char *buffer, int buflen);
 
+extern const struct vm_operations_struct anon_vm_ops;
+extern const struct vm_operations_struct dummy_vm_ops;
+
 static inline bool vma_is_anonymous(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 {
-	return !vma->vm_ops;
+	return vma->vm_ops == &anon_vm_ops;
 }
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_SHMEM
diff --git a/mm/khugepaged.c b/mm/khugepaged.c
index d7b2a4bf867164..5ae34097aed123 100644
--- a/mm/khugepaged.c
+++ b/mm/khugepaged.c
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@ int khugepaged_enter_vma_merge(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 		 * page fault if needed.
 		 */
 		return 0;
-	if (vma->vm_ops || (vm_flags & VM_NO_KHUGEPAGED))
+	if (!vma_is_anonymous(vma) || (vm_flags & VM_NO_KHUGEPAGED))
 		/* khugepaged not yet working on file or special mappings */
 		return 0;
 	hstart = (vma->vm_start + ~HPAGE_PMD_MASK) & HPAGE_PMD_MASK;
@@ -831,7 +831,7 @@ static bool hugepage_vma_check(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
 		return IS_ALIGNED((vma->vm_start >> PAGE_SHIFT) - vma->vm_pgoff,
 				HPAGE_PMD_NR);
 	}
-	if (!vma->anon_vma || vma->vm_ops)
+	if (!vma->anon_vma || !vma_is_anonymous(vma))
 		return false;
 	if (is_vma_temporary_stack(vma))
 		return false;
diff --git a/mm/mmap.c b/mm/mmap.c
index 5801b5f0a634b5..3dd845699e8cf9 100644
--- a/mm/mmap.c
+++ b/mm/mmap.c
@@ -71,6 +71,9 @@ int mmap_rnd_compat_bits __read_mostly = CONFIG_ARCH_MMAP_RND_COMPAT_BITS;
 static bool ignore_rlimit_data;
 core_param(ignore_rlimit_data, ignore_rlimit_data, bool, 0644);
 
+const struct vm_operations_struct anon_vm_ops = {};
+const struct vm_operations_struct dummy_vm_ops = {};
+
 static void unmap_region(struct mm_struct *mm,
 		struct vm_area_struct *vma, struct vm_area_struct *prev,
 		unsigned long start, unsigned long end);
@@ -561,6 +564,8 @@ static unsigned long count_vma_pages_range(struct mm_struct *mm,
 void __vma_link_rb(struct mm_struct *mm, struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 		struct rb_node **rb_link, struct rb_node *rb_parent)
 {
+	WARN_ONCE(!vma->vm_ops, "missing vma->vm_ops");
+
 	/* Update tracking information for the gap following the new vma. */
 	if (vma->vm_next)
 		vma_gap_update(vma->vm_next);
@@ -1774,12 +1779,19 @@ unsigned long mmap_region(struct file *file, unsigned long addr,
 		 */
 		WARN_ON_ONCE(addr != vma->vm_start);
 
+		/* All mappings must have ->vm_ops set */
+		if (!vma->vm_ops)
+			vma->vm_ops = &dummy_vm_ops;
+
 		addr = vma->vm_start;
 		vm_flags = vma->vm_flags;
 	} else if (vm_flags & VM_SHARED) {
 		error = shmem_zero_setup(vma);
 		if (error)
 			goto free_vma;
+	} else {
+		/* vma_is_anonymous() relies on this. */
+		vma->vm_ops = &anon_vm_ops;
 	}
 
 	vma_link(mm, vma, prev, rb_link, rb_parent);
@@ -2992,6 +3004,7 @@ static int do_brk_flags(unsigned long addr, unsigned long len, unsigned long fla
 
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&vma->anon_vma_chain);
 	vma->vm_mm = mm;
+	vma->vm_ops = &anon_vm_ops;
 	vma->vm_start = addr;
 	vma->vm_end = addr + len;
 	vma->vm_pgoff = pgoff;
diff --git a/mm/shmem.c b/mm/shmem.c
index 2cab8440305531..db5c319161ca76 100644
--- a/mm/shmem.c
+++ b/mm/shmem.c
@@ -1424,6 +1424,7 @@ static void shmem_pseudo_vma_init(struct vm_area_struct *vma,
 	/* Bias interleave by inode number to distribute better across nodes */
 	vma->vm_pgoff = index + info->vfs_inode.i_ino;
 	vma->vm_policy = mpol_shared_policy_lookup(&info->policy, index);
+	vma->vm_ops = &dummy_vm_ops;
 }
 
 static void shmem_pseudo_vma_destroy(struct vm_area_struct *vma)