diff --git a/block/badblocks.c b/block/badblocks.c
index 9be8bf94f979..0d5030aae715 100644
--- a/block/badblocks.c
+++ b/block/badblocks.c
@@ -522,6 +522,22 @@ ssize_t badblocks_store(struct badblocks *bb, const char *page, size_t len,
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(badblocks_store);
 
+struct badblocks *badblocks_alloc(void)
+{
+	struct badblocks *bb;
+	int rc;
+
+	bb = kzalloc(sizeof(*bb), GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!bb)
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+
+	rc = badblocks_init(bb, 1);
+	if (rc)
+		return ERR_PTR(rc);
+	return bb;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(badblocks_alloc);
+
 /**
  * badblocks_init() - initialize the badblocks structure
  * @bb:		the badblocks structure that holds all badblock information
diff --git a/block/genhd.c b/block/genhd.c
index b96012849e26..1118369ab2fd 100644
--- a/block/genhd.c
+++ b/block/genhd.c
@@ -508,11 +508,12 @@ static int exact_lock(dev_t devt, void *data)
 
 int disk_alloc_badblocks(struct gendisk *disk)
 {
-	disk->bb = kzalloc(sizeof(*(disk->bb)), GFP_KERNEL);
-	if (!disk->bb)
-		return -ENOMEM;
+	struct badblocks *bb = badblocks_alloc();
 
-	return badblocks_init(disk->bb, 1);
+	if (IS_ERR(bb))
+		return PTR_ERR(bb);
+	disk->bb = bb;
+	return 0;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(disk_alloc_badblocks);
 
diff --git a/drivers/nvdimm/core.c b/drivers/nvdimm/core.c
index 21003b7f0b38..c31a699aaed9 100644
--- a/drivers/nvdimm/core.c
+++ b/drivers/nvdimm/core.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
  * General Public License for more details.
  */
 #include <linux/libnvdimm.h>
+#include <linux/badblocks.h>
 #include <linux/export.h>
 #include <linux/module.h>
 #include <linux/blkdev.h>
@@ -362,7 +363,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(__nvdimm_bus_register);
 
 /**
  * __add_badblock_range() - Convert a physical address range to bad sectors
- * @disk:	the disk associated with the namespace
+ * @bb:		badblocks instance to establish / extend
  * @ns_offset:	namespace offset where the error range begins (in bytes)
  * @len:	number of bytes of poison to be added
  *
@@ -370,9 +371,10 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(__nvdimm_bus_register);
  * the bounds of physical addresses for this namespace, i.e. lies in the
  * interval [ns_start, ns_start + ns_size)
  */
-static int __add_badblock_range(struct gendisk *disk, u64 ns_offset, u64 len)
+static int __add_badblock_range(struct badblocks **bb, u64 ns_offset,
+		u64 len)
 {
-	unsigned int sector_size = queue_logical_block_size(disk->queue);
+	const unsigned int sector_size = 512;
 	sector_t start_sector;
 	u64 num_sectors;
 	u32 rem;
@@ -383,10 +385,10 @@ static int __add_badblock_range(struct gendisk *disk, u64 ns_offset, u64 len)
 	if (rem)
 		num_sectors++;
 
-	if (!disk->bb) {
-		rc = disk_alloc_badblocks(disk);
-		if (rc)
-			return rc;
+	if (!*bb) {
+		*bb = badblocks_alloc();
+		if (IS_ERR(*bb))
+			return PTR_ERR(*bb);
 	}
 
 	if (unlikely(num_sectors > (u64)INT_MAX)) {
@@ -396,7 +398,7 @@ static int __add_badblock_range(struct gendisk *disk, u64 ns_offset, u64 len)
 		while (remaining) {
 			int done = min_t(u64, remaining, INT_MAX);
 
-			rc = disk_set_badblocks(disk, s, done);
+			rc = badblocks_set(*bb, s, done, 1);
 			if (rc)
 				return rc;
 			remaining -= done;
@@ -404,35 +406,45 @@ static int __add_badblock_range(struct gendisk *disk, u64 ns_offset, u64 len)
 		}
 		return 0;
 	} else
-		return disk_set_badblocks(disk, start_sector, num_sectors);
+		return badblocks_set(*bb, start_sector, num_sectors, 1);
 }
 
 /**
- * nvdimm_namespace_add_poison() - Convert a list of poison ranges to badblocks
- * @disk:	the gendisk associated with the namespace where badblocks
- *		will be stored
+ * nvdimm_namespace_badblocks() - Convert a list of poison ranges to badblocks
+ * @ndns:	namespace hosting potential badblocks
  * @offset:	offset at the start of the namespace before 'sector 0'
- * @ndns:	the namespace containing poison ranges
  *
- * The poison list generated during NFIT initialization may contain multiple,
- * possibly overlapping ranges in the SPA (System Physical Address) space.
- * Compare each of these ranges to the namespace currently being initialized,
- * and add badblocks to the gendisk for all matching sub-ranges
+ * The poison list generated during NFIT initialization may contain
+ * multiple, possibly overlapping ranges in the SPA (System Physical
+ * Address) space.  Compare each of these ranges to the namespace
+ * currently being initialized, and add badblocks for all matching
+ * sub-ranges
  *
  * Return:
- * 0 - Success
+ * valid badblocks instance on success
+ * ERR_PTR(-ENOENT) on no badblocks present
+ * ERR_PTR(-<error>) on failure
  */
-int nvdimm_namespace_add_poison(struct gendisk *disk, resource_size_t offset,
-		struct nd_namespace_common *ndns)
+struct badblocks *nvdimm_namespace_badblocks(struct nd_namespace_common *ndns,
+		resource_size_t offset)
 {
-	struct nd_namespace_io *nsio = to_nd_namespace_io(&ndns->dev);
 	struct nd_region *nd_region = to_nd_region(ndns->dev.parent);
 	struct nvdimm_bus *nvdimm_bus;
 	struct list_head *poison_list;
 	u64 ns_start, ns_end, ns_size;
+	struct nd_namespace_io *nsio;
+	struct badblocks *bb = NULL;
 	struct nd_poison *pl;
 	int rc;
 
+	/*
+	 * For now, the addresses retrieved from an nvdimm bus are
+	 * communicated in terms of system physical address not a dimm
+	 * address (dpa).  This implies pmem only.
+	 */
+	if (!is_nd_pmem(&nd_region->dev))
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOENT);
+	nsio = to_nd_namespace_io(&ndns->dev);
 	ns_size = nvdimm_namespace_capacity(ndns) - offset;
 	ns_start = nsio->res.start + offset;
 	ns_end = nsio->res.end;
@@ -440,7 +452,7 @@ int nvdimm_namespace_add_poison(struct gendisk *disk, resource_size_t offset,
 	nvdimm_bus = to_nvdimm_bus(nd_region->dev.parent);
 	poison_list = &nvdimm_bus->poison_list;
 	if (list_empty(poison_list))
-		return 0;
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOENT);
 
 	list_for_each_entry(pl, poison_list, list) {
 		u64 pl_end = pl->start + pl->length - 1;
@@ -460,9 +472,9 @@ int nvdimm_namespace_add_poison(struct gendisk *disk, resource_size_t offset,
 			else
 				len = ns_start + ns_size - pl->start;
 
-			rc = __add_badblock_range(disk, start - ns_start, len);
+			rc = __add_badblock_range(&bb, start - ns_start, len);
 			if (rc)
-				return rc;
+				return ERR_PTR(rc);
 			dev_info(&nvdimm_bus->dev,
 				"Found a poison range (0x%llx, 0x%llx)\n",
 				start, len);
@@ -477,18 +489,19 @@ int nvdimm_namespace_add_poison(struct gendisk *disk, resource_size_t offset,
 			else
 				len = ns_size;
 
-			rc = __add_badblock_range(disk, 0, len);
+			rc = __add_badblock_range(&bb, 0, len);
 			if (rc)
-				return rc;
+				return ERR_PTR(rc);
 			dev_info(&nvdimm_bus->dev,
 				"Found a poison range (0x%llx, 0x%llx)\n",
 				pl->start, len);
 		}
 	}
 
-	return 0;
+	WARN_ON(!bb);
+	return bb;
 }
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(nvdimm_namespace_add_poison);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(nvdimm_namespace_badblocks);
 
 static int __add_poison(struct nvdimm_bus *nvdimm_bus, u64 addr, u64 length)
 {
diff --git a/drivers/nvdimm/nd.h b/drivers/nvdimm/nd.h
index 198933da83e5..65f1031f2bf9 100644
--- a/drivers/nvdimm/nd.h
+++ b/drivers/nvdimm/nd.h
@@ -268,8 +268,8 @@ int nvdimm_namespace_attach_btt(struct nd_namespace_common *ndns);
 int nvdimm_namespace_detach_btt(struct nd_namespace_common *ndns);
 const char *nvdimm_namespace_disk_name(struct nd_namespace_common *ndns,
 		char *name);
-int nvdimm_namespace_add_poison(struct gendisk *disk, resource_size_t offset,
-		struct nd_namespace_common *ndns);
+struct badblocks *nvdimm_namespace_badblocks(struct nd_namespace_common *ndns,
+		resource_size_t offset);
 int nd_blk_region_init(struct nd_region *nd_region);
 void __nd_iostat_start(struct bio *bio, unsigned long *start);
 static inline bool nd_iostat_start(struct bio *bio, unsigned long *start)
diff --git a/drivers/nvdimm/pmem.c b/drivers/nvdimm/pmem.c
index d8e14e962327..082d6ae11d48 100644
--- a/drivers/nvdimm/pmem.c
+++ b/drivers/nvdimm/pmem.c
@@ -194,8 +194,8 @@ static int pmem_attach_disk(struct device *dev,
 		struct nd_namespace_common *ndns, struct pmem_device *pmem)
 {
 	int nid = dev_to_node(dev);
+	struct badblocks *bb;
 	struct gendisk *disk;
-	int ret;
 
 	pmem->pmem_queue = blk_alloc_queue_node(GFP_KERNEL, nid);
 	if (!pmem->pmem_queue)
@@ -224,10 +224,15 @@ static int pmem_attach_disk(struct device *dev,
 	set_capacity(disk, (pmem->size - pmem->data_offset) / 512);
 	pmem->pmem_disk = disk;
 
-	ret = nvdimm_namespace_add_poison(disk, pmem->data_offset, ndns);
-	if (ret)
-		return ret;
+	bb = nvdimm_namespace_badblocks(ndns, pmem->data_offset);
+	if (IS_ERR(bb)) {
+		if (PTR_ERR(bb) == -ENOENT)
+			bb = NULL;
+		else
+			return PTR_ERR(bb);
+	}
 
+	disk->bb = bb;
 	add_disk(disk);
 	revalidate_disk(disk);
 
diff --git a/include/linux/badblocks.h b/include/linux/badblocks.h
index 929344630b51..e74aae7c66e2 100644
--- a/include/linux/badblocks.h
+++ b/include/linux/badblocks.h
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ ssize_t badblocks_show(struct badblocks *bb, char *page, int unack);
 ssize_t badblocks_store(struct badblocks *bb, const char *page, size_t len,
 			int unack);
 int badblocks_init(struct badblocks *bb, int enable);
+struct badblocks *badblocks_alloc(void);
 void badblocks_free(struct badblocks *bb);
 
 #endif
