diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-snap.c b/drivers/md/dm-snap.c
index a0613bd8ed00e..b502debc6df3f 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-snap.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-snap.c
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 #include <linux/vmalloc.h>
 #include <linux/log2.h>
 #include <linux/dm-kcopyd.h>
+#include <linux/semaphore.h>
 
 #include "dm.h"
 
@@ -105,6 +106,9 @@ struct dm_snapshot {
 	/* The on disk metadata handler */
 	struct dm_exception_store *store;
 
+	/* Maximum number of in-flight COW jobs. */
+	struct semaphore cow_count;
+
 	struct dm_kcopyd_client *kcopyd_client;
 
 	/* Wait for events based on state_bits */
@@ -145,6 +149,19 @@ struct dm_snapshot {
 #define RUNNING_MERGE          0
 #define SHUTDOWN_MERGE         1
 
+/*
+ * Maximum number of chunks being copied on write.
+ *
+ * The value was decided experimentally as a trade-off between memory
+ * consumption, stalling the kernel's workqueues and maintaining a high enough
+ * throughput.
+ */
+#define DEFAULT_COW_THRESHOLD 2048
+
+static int cow_threshold = DEFAULT_COW_THRESHOLD;
+module_param_named(snapshot_cow_threshold, cow_threshold, int, 0644);
+MODULE_PARM_DESC(snapshot_cow_threshold, "Maximum number of chunks being copied on write");
+
 DECLARE_DM_KCOPYD_THROTTLE_WITH_MODULE_PARM(snapshot_copy_throttle,
 		"A percentage of time allocated for copy on write");
 
@@ -1189,6 +1206,8 @@ static int snapshot_ctr(struct dm_target *ti, unsigned int argc, char **argv)
 		goto bad_hash_tables;
 	}
 
+	sema_init(&s->cow_count, (cow_threshold > 0) ? cow_threshold : INT_MAX);
+
 	s->kcopyd_client = dm_kcopyd_client_create(&dm_kcopyd_throttle);
 	if (IS_ERR(s->kcopyd_client)) {
 		r = PTR_ERR(s->kcopyd_client);
@@ -1560,6 +1579,7 @@ static void copy_callback(int read_err, unsigned long write_err, void *context)
 		}
 		list_add(&pe->out_of_order_entry, lh);
 	}
+	up(&s->cow_count);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -1583,6 +1603,7 @@ static void start_copy(struct dm_snap_pending_exception *pe)
 	dest.count = src.count;
 
 	/* Hand over to kcopyd */
+	down(&s->cow_count);
 	dm_kcopyd_copy(s->kcopyd_client, &src, 1, &dest, 0, copy_callback, pe);
 }
 
@@ -1602,6 +1623,7 @@ static void start_full_bio(struct dm_snap_pending_exception *pe,
 	pe->full_bio = bio;
 	pe->full_bio_end_io = bio->bi_end_io;
 
+	down(&s->cow_count);
 	callback_data = dm_kcopyd_prepare_callback(s->kcopyd_client,
 						   copy_callback, pe);