diff --git a/.topmsg b/.topmsg
index 9fa80353b8..7980cebd4d 100644
--- a/.topmsg
+++ b/.topmsg
@@ -5,4 +5,9 @@ Remove all instances of list handling where the API is not used
 and instead list data members are directly accessed.  Doing this
 sort of thing is bad for portability.
 
+Additionally, ensure that list_link_init() is called on newly
+created list nodes.  This ensures the node is properly initialized
+and does not rely on the assumption that zero'ing the list_node_t
+via kmem_zalloc() is the same as proper initialization.
+
 Signed-off-by: Brian Behlendorf <behlendorf1@llnl.gov>
diff --git a/module/zfs/dbuf.c b/module/zfs/dbuf.c
index d04610317a..f5f5daa3e4 100644
--- a/module/zfs/dbuf.c
+++ b/module/zfs/dbuf.c
@@ -1018,6 +1018,7 @@ dbuf_dirty(dmu_buf_impl_t *db, dmu_tx_t *tx)
 	 * transaction group won't leak out when we sync the older txg.
 	 */
 	dr = kmem_zalloc(sizeof (dbuf_dirty_record_t), KM_SLEEP);
+	list_link_init(&dr->dr_dirty_node);
 	if (db->db_level == 0) {
 		void *data_old = db->db_buf;
 
diff --git a/module/zfs/dnode.c b/module/zfs/dnode.c
index e77834d60d..45ba90a6d6 100644
--- a/module/zfs/dnode.c
+++ b/module/zfs/dnode.c
@@ -280,6 +280,13 @@ dnode_create(objset_impl_t *os, dnode_phys_t *dnp, dmu_buf_impl_t *db,
 	dn->dn_dbuf = db;
 	dn->dn_phys = dnp;
 
+	list_link_init(&dn->dn_link);
+	{
+		int i;
+		for (i = 0; i < TXG_SIZE; i++)
+			list_link_init(&dn->dn_dirty_link[i]);
+	}
+
 	if (dnp->dn_datablkszsec)
 		dnode_setdblksz(dn, dnp->dn_datablkszsec << SPA_MINBLOCKSHIFT);
 	dn->dn_indblkshift = dnp->dn_indblkshift;
diff --git a/module/zfs/include/sys/dbuf.h b/module/zfs/include/sys/dbuf.h
index 75ce27264e..bea71f06f1 100644
--- a/module/zfs/include/sys/dbuf.h
+++ b/module/zfs/include/sys/dbuf.h
@@ -85,9 +85,6 @@ struct dmu_tx;
  * etc.
  */
 
-#define	LIST_LINK_INACTIVE(link) \
-	((link)->list_next == NULL && (link)->list_prev == NULL)
-
 struct dmu_buf_impl;
 
 typedef enum override_states {