diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt/qp.c b/drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt/qp.c
index 459865439a0b..8876ee7bc326 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt/qp.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/sw/rdmavt/qp.c
@@ -1258,9 +1258,7 @@ int rvt_modify_qp(struct ib_qp *ibqp, struct ib_qp_attr *attr,
 
 	if (attr_mask & IB_QP_TIMEOUT) {
 		qp->timeout = attr->timeout;
-		qp->timeout_jiffies =
-			usecs_to_jiffies((4096UL * (1UL << qp->timeout)) /
-				1000UL);
+		qp->timeout_jiffies = rvt_timeout_to_jiffies(qp->timeout);
 	}
 
 	if (attr_mask & IB_QP_QKEY)
diff --git a/include/rdma/rdmavt_qp.h b/include/rdma/rdmavt_qp.h
index be6472e5b06b..d664d2e76280 100644
--- a/include/rdma/rdmavt_qp.h
+++ b/include/rdma/rdmavt_qp.h
@@ -647,6 +647,20 @@ static inline u32 rvt_div_mtu(struct rvt_qp *qp, u32 len)
 	return len >> qp->log_pmtu;
 }
 
+/**
+ * rvt_timeout_to_jiffies - Convert a ULP timeout input into jiffies
+ * @timeout - timeout input(0 - 31).
+ *
+ * Return a timeout value in jiffies.
+ */
+static inline unsigned long rvt_timeout_to_jiffies(u8 timeout)
+{
+	if (timeout > 31)
+		timeout = 31;
+
+	return usecs_to_jiffies(1U << timeout) * 4096UL / 1000UL;
+}
+
 extern const int  ib_rvt_state_ops[];
 
 struct rvt_dev_info;