diff --git a/block.c b/block.c
index 97af3f5..9697dc9 100644
--- a/block.c
+++ b/block.c
@@ -1669,6 +1669,10 @@ static int multiwrite_merge(BlockDriverState *bs, BlockRequest *reqs,
             merge = bs->drv->bdrv_merge_requests(bs, &reqs[outidx], &reqs[i]);
         }
 
+        if (reqs[outidx].qiov->niov + reqs[i].qiov->niov + 1 > IOV_MAX) {
+            merge = 0;
+        }
+
         if (merge) {
             size_t size;
             QEMUIOVector *qiov = qemu_mallocz(sizeof(*qiov));
diff --git a/qemu-common.h b/qemu-common.h
index d96060a..a23afbc 100644
--- a/qemu-common.h
+++ b/qemu-common.h
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ struct iovec {
     void *iov_base;
     size_t iov_len;
 };
+/*
+ * Use the same value as Linux for now.
+ */
+#define IOV_MAX		1024
 #else
 #include <sys/uio.h>
 #endif