diff --git a/drivers/md/bitmap.c b/drivers/md/bitmap.c
index cced062cab4b..cb5c9d8ea139 100644
--- a/drivers/md/bitmap.c
+++ b/drivers/md/bitmap.c
@@ -1802,6 +1802,11 @@ int bitmap_resize(struct bitmap *bitmap, sector_t blocks,
 	long pages;
 	struct bitmap_page *new_bp;
 
+	if (bitmap->storage.file && !init) {
+		pr_info("md: cannot resize file-based bitmap\n");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
 	if (chunksize == 0) {
 		/* If there is enough space, leave the chunk size unchanged,
 		 * else increase by factor of two until there is enough space.