diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem_vram_helper.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem_vram_helper.c
index e0fbfb6570cf..f9b2b8e12b49 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem_vram_helper.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem_vram_helper.c
@@ -340,6 +340,56 @@ void drm_gem_vram_kunmap(struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_gem_vram_kunmap);
 
+/**
+ * drm_gem_vram_vmap() - Pins and maps a GEM VRAM object into kernel address
+	space
+ * @gbo:	The GEM VRAM object to map
+ *
+ * The vmap function pins a GEM VRAM object to its current location, either
+ * system or video memory, and maps its buffer into kernel address space. As
+ * pinned object cannot be relocated, you should not permanently pin objects.
+ * Call drm_gem_vram_vunmap() with the returned address to unmap and unpin
+ * the GEM VRAM object.
+ *
+ * If you have special requirements for the pinning or mapping operations,
+ * call drm_gem_vram_pin() and drm_gem_vram_kmap() directly.
+ *
+ * Returns:
+ * The buffer's virtual address on success, or
+ * an ERR_PTR()-encoded error code otherwise.
+ */
+void *drm_gem_vram_vmap(struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo)
+{
+	int ret;
+	void *base;
+
+	ret = drm_gem_vram_pin(gbo, 0);
+	if (ret)
+		return ERR_PTR(ret);
+	base = drm_gem_vram_kmap(gbo, true, NULL);
+	if (IS_ERR(base)) {
+		drm_gem_vram_unpin(gbo);
+		return base;
+	}
+	return base;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_gem_vram_vmap);
+
+/**
+ * drm_gem_vram_vunmap() - Unmaps and unpins a GEM VRAM object
+ * @gbo:	The GEM VRAM object to unmap
+ * @vaddr:	The mapping's base address as returned by drm_gem_vram_vmap()
+ *
+ * A call to drm_gem_vram_vunmap() unmaps and unpins a GEM VRAM buffer. See
+ * the documentation for drm_gem_vram_vmap() for more information.
+ */
+void drm_gem_vram_vunmap(struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo, void *vaddr)
+{
+	drm_gem_vram_kunmap(gbo);
+	drm_gem_vram_unpin(gbo);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(drm_gem_vram_vunmap);
+
 /**
  * drm_gem_vram_fill_create_dumb() - \
 	Helper for implementing &struct drm_driver.dumb_create
@@ -595,17 +645,11 @@ static void drm_gem_vram_object_unpin(struct drm_gem_object *gem)
 static void *drm_gem_vram_object_vmap(struct drm_gem_object *gem)
 {
 	struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo = drm_gem_vram_of_gem(gem);
-	int ret;
 	void *base;
 
-	ret = drm_gem_vram_pin(gbo, 0);
-	if (ret)
+	base = drm_gem_vram_vmap(gbo);
+	if (IS_ERR(base))
 		return NULL;
-	base = drm_gem_vram_kmap(gbo, true, NULL);
-	if (IS_ERR(base)) {
-		drm_gem_vram_unpin(gbo);
-		return NULL;
-	}
 	return base;
 }
 
@@ -620,8 +664,7 @@ static void drm_gem_vram_object_vunmap(struct drm_gem_object *gem,
 {
 	struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo = drm_gem_vram_of_gem(gem);
 
-	drm_gem_vram_kunmap(gbo);
-	drm_gem_vram_unpin(gbo);
+	drm_gem_vram_vunmap(gbo, vaddr);
 }
 
 /*
diff --git a/include/drm/drm_gem_vram_helper.h b/include/drm/drm_gem_vram_helper.h
index b41d932eb53a..88da46552d07 100644
--- a/include/drm/drm_gem_vram_helper.h
+++ b/include/drm/drm_gem_vram_helper.h
@@ -34,6 +34,17 @@ struct vm_area_struct;
  * backed by VRAM. It can be used for simple framebuffer devices with
  * dedicated memory. The buffer object can be evicted to system memory if
  * video memory becomes scarce.
+ *
+ * GEM VRAM objects perform a reference counting for pin operations. So a
+ * buffer object that has been pinned N times with drm_gem_vram_pin() must
+ * be unpinned N times with drm_gem_vram_unpin().
+ *
+ * So far, drivers based on VRAM helpers don't have overlapping
+ * mapping operations. A driver temporarily maps an object with
+ * drm_gem_vram_kmap()and unmaps it ASAP with drm_gem_vram_kunmap(). This
+ * works well for fbdev emulation or cursor images.  If we ever have a
+ * driver with buffer objects that are mapped by multiple code fragments
+ * concurrently, we may need a map counter to get the mapping right.
  */
 struct drm_gem_vram_object {
 	struct drm_gem_object gem;
@@ -84,6 +95,8 @@ int drm_gem_vram_unpin(struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo);
 void *drm_gem_vram_kmap(struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo, bool map,
 			bool *is_iomem);
 void drm_gem_vram_kunmap(struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo);
+void *drm_gem_vram_vmap(struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo);
+void drm_gem_vram_vunmap(struct drm_gem_vram_object *gbo, void *vaddr);
 
 int drm_gem_vram_fill_create_dumb(struct drm_file *file,
 				  struct drm_device *dev,
