diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 7847f3885081..ac808680e61c 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -893,10 +893,22 @@ static int perf_evlist__mmap_per_thread(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
 
 static size_t perf_evlist__mmap_size(unsigned long pages)
 {
-	/* 512 kiB: default amount of unprivileged mlocked memory */
-	if (pages == UINT_MAX)
-		pages = (512 * 1024) / page_size;
-	else if (!is_power_of_2(pages))
+	if (pages == UINT_MAX) {
+		int max;
+
+		if (sysctl__read_int("kernel/perf_event_mlock_kb", &max) < 0) {
+			/*
+			 * Pick a once upon a time good value, i.e. things look
+			 * strange since we can't read a sysctl value, but lets not
+			 * die yet...
+			 */
+			max = 512;
+		} else {
+			max -= (page_size / 1024);
+		}
+
+		pages = (max * 1024) / page_size;
+	} else if (!is_power_of_2(pages))
 		return 0;
 
 	return (pages + 1) * page_size;