diff --git a/fs/cifs/cifsproto.h b/fs/cifs/cifsproto.h
index 4167716..7d54a5a 100644
--- a/fs/cifs/cifsproto.h
+++ b/fs/cifs/cifsproto.h
@@ -260,8 +260,7 @@ extern int CIFSUnixCreateSymLink(const int xid,
 			const struct nls_table *nls_codepage);
 extern int CIFSSMBUnixQuerySymLink(const int xid,
 			struct cifsTconInfo *tcon,
-			const unsigned char *searchName,
-			char *syminfo, const int buflen,
+			const unsigned char *searchName, char **syminfo,
 			const struct nls_table *nls_codepage);
 extern int CIFSSMBQueryReparseLinkInfo(const int xid,
 			struct cifsTconInfo *tcon,
diff --git a/fs/cifs/cifssmb.c b/fs/cifs/cifssmb.c
index 6f187ca..fda2978 100644
--- a/fs/cifs/cifssmb.c
+++ b/fs/cifs/cifssmb.c
@@ -2382,8 +2382,7 @@ winCreateHardLinkRetry:
 
 int
 CIFSSMBUnixQuerySymLink(const int xid, struct cifsTconInfo *tcon,
-			const unsigned char *searchName,
-			char *symlinkinfo, const int buflen,
+			const unsigned char *searchName, char **symlinkinfo,
 			const struct nls_table *nls_codepage)
 {
 /* SMB_QUERY_FILE_UNIX_LINK */
@@ -2393,6 +2392,7 @@ CIFSSMBUnixQuerySymLink(const int xid, struct cifsTconInfo *tcon,
 	int bytes_returned;
 	int name_len;
 	__u16 params, byte_count;
+	char *data_start;
 
 	cFYI(1, ("In QPathSymLinkInfo (Unix) for path %s", searchName));
 
@@ -2447,30 +2447,21 @@ querySymLinkRetry:
 		/* decode response */
 
 		rc = validate_t2((struct smb_t2_rsp *)pSMBr);
-		if (rc || (pSMBr->ByteCount < 2))
 		/* BB also check enough total bytes returned */
-			rc = -EIO;	/* bad smb */
+		if (rc || (pSMBr->ByteCount < 2))
+			rc = -EIO;
 		else {
-			__u16 data_offset = le16_to_cpu(pSMBr->t2.DataOffset);
-			__u16 count = le16_to_cpu(pSMBr->t2.DataCount);
+			u16 count = le16_to_cpu(pSMBr->t2.DataCount);
+
+			data_start = ((char *) &pSMBr->hdr.Protocol) +
+					   le16_to_cpu(pSMBr->t2.DataOffset);
 
-			if (pSMBr->hdr.Flags2 & SMBFLG2_UNICODE) {
-				name_len = UniStrnlen((wchar_t *) ((char *)
-					&pSMBr->hdr.Protocol + data_offset),
-					min_t(const int, buflen, count) / 2);
 			/* BB FIXME investigate remapping reserved chars here */
-				cifs_strfromUCS_le(symlinkinfo,
-					(__le16 *) ((char *)&pSMBr->hdr.Protocol
-							+ data_offset),
-					name_len, nls_codepage);
-			} else {
-				strncpy(symlinkinfo,
-					(char *) &pSMBr->hdr.Protocol +
-						data_offset,
-					min_t(const int, buflen, count));
-			}
-			symlinkinfo[buflen] = 0;
-	/* just in case so calling code does not go off the end of buffer */
+			rc = cifs_strndup(symlinkinfo, data_start, count,
+					  pSMBr->hdr.Flags2 & SMBFLG2_UNICODE,
+					  nls_codepage);
+			if (rc > 0)
+				rc = 0;
 		}
 	}
 	cifs_buf_release(pSMB);
diff --git a/fs/cifs/link.c b/fs/cifs/link.c
index 9926cf7..ea9d11e 100644
--- a/fs/cifs/link.c
+++ b/fs/cifs/link.c
@@ -119,16 +119,11 @@ cifs_follow_link(struct dentry *direntry, struct nameidata *nd)
 	full_path = build_path_from_dentry(direntry);
 
 	if (!full_path)
-		goto out_no_free;
+		goto out;
 
 	cFYI(1, ("Full path: %s inode = 0x%p", full_path, inode));
 	cifs_sb = CIFS_SB(inode->i_sb);
 	pTcon = cifs_sb->tcon;
-	target_path = kmalloc(PATH_MAX, GFP_KERNEL);
-	if (!target_path) {
-		target_path = ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
-		goto out;
-	}
 
 	/* We could change this to:
 		if (pTcon->unix_ext)
@@ -138,8 +133,7 @@ cifs_follow_link(struct dentry *direntry, struct nameidata *nd)
 
 	if (pTcon->ses->capabilities & CAP_UNIX)
 		rc = CIFSSMBUnixQuerySymLink(xid, pTcon, full_path,
-					     target_path,
-					     PATH_MAX-1,
+					     &target_path,
 					     cifs_sb->local_nls);
 	else {
 		/* BB add read reparse point symlink code here */
@@ -148,22 +142,16 @@ cifs_follow_link(struct dentry *direntry, struct nameidata *nd)
 		/* BB Add MAC style xsymlink check here if enabled */
 	}
 
-	if (rc == 0) {
-
-/* BB Add special case check for Samba DFS symlinks */
-
-		target_path[PATH_MAX-1] = 0;
-	} else {
+	if (rc != 0) {
 		kfree(target_path);
 		target_path = ERR_PTR(rc);
 	}
 
-out:
 	kfree(full_path);
-out_no_free:
+out:
 	FreeXid(xid);
 	nd_set_link(nd, target_path);
-	return NULL;	/* No cookie */
+	return NULL;
 }
 
 int
