diff --git a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/tmpfs/regular_file.go b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/tmpfs/regular_file.go
index c090b00e0..dc50af169 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/tmpfs/regular_file.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/fsimpl/tmpfs/regular_file.go
@@ -728,7 +728,10 @@ func (rw *regularFileReadWriter) WriteFromBlocks(srcs safemem.BlockSeq) (uint64,
 				goto exitLoop
 			}
 			gapMR.End = gapMR.Start + (hostarch.PageSize * pagesReserved)
-			fr, err := rw.file.inode.fs.mf.Allocate(gapMR.Length(), pgalloc.AllocOpts{Kind: rw.file.memoryUsageKind})
+			fr, err := rw.file.inode.fs.mf.AllocateAndFill(gapMR.Length(), rw.file.memoryUsageKind, pgalloc.AllocateAndWritePopulate, safemem.ReaderFunc(func(dsts safemem.BlockSeq) (uint64, error) {
+				// No-op here. The write to dsts will happen in the next iteration.
+				return dsts.NumBytes(), nil
+			}))
 			if err != nil {
 				retErr = err
 				rw.file.inode.fs.unaccountPages(pagesReserved)
diff --git a/pkg/sentry/pgalloc/pgalloc.go b/pkg/sentry/pgalloc/pgalloc.go
index e567caf47..732804800 100644
--- a/pkg/sentry/pgalloc/pgalloc.go
+++ b/pkg/sentry/pgalloc/pgalloc.go
@@ -697,10 +697,14 @@ func tryPopulateMadv(b safemem.Block) bool {
 		return true
 	}
 	end := hostarch.Addr(b.Addr() + uintptr(b.Len())).RoundDown()
-	if start >= end {
+	bLen := end - start
+	// Only call madvise(MADV_POPULATE_WRITE) if >=2 pages are being populated.
+	// 1 syscall overhead >= 1 page fault overhead. This is because syscalls are
+	// susceptible to additional overheads like seccomp-bpf filters and auditing.
+	if start >= end || bLen <= hostarch.PageSize {
 		return true
 	}
-	_, _, errno := unix.RawSyscall(unix.SYS_MADVISE, uintptr(start), uintptr(end-start), unix.MADV_POPULATE_WRITE)
+	_, _, errno := unix.RawSyscall(unix.SYS_MADVISE, uintptr(start), uintptr(bLen), unix.MADV_POPULATE_WRITE)
 	if errno != 0 {
 		if errno == unix.EINVAL {
 			// EINVAL is expected if MADV_POPULATE_WRITE is not supported (Linux <5.14).