diff --git a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
index cdc7564b4512..dd2532c10324 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
@@ -607,6 +607,13 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(rpc_killall_tasks);
  */
 void rpc_shutdown_client(struct rpc_clnt *clnt)
 {
+	/*
+	 * To avoid deadlock, never call rpc_shutdown_client from a
+	 * workqueue context!
+	 */
+	WARN_ON_ONCE(current->flags & PF_WQ_WORKER);
+	might_sleep();
+
 	dprintk_rcu("RPC:       shutting down %s client for %s\n",
 			clnt->cl_protname,
 			rcu_dereference(clnt->cl_xprt)->servername);