diff --git a/fs/dlm/dlm_internal.h b/fs/dlm/dlm_internal.h
index 0562099e60eb..d534a4bc162b 100644
--- a/fs/dlm/dlm_internal.h
+++ b/fs/dlm/dlm_internal.h
@@ -295,6 +295,7 @@ struct dlm_lkb {
 		void			*lkb_astparam;	/* caller's ast arg */
 		struct dlm_user_args	*lkb_ua;
 	};
+	struct rcu_head		rcu;
 };
 
 /*
diff --git a/fs/dlm/lock.c b/fs/dlm/lock.c
index 9d3ec359d5e3..865dc70a9dfc 100644
--- a/fs/dlm/lock.c
+++ b/fs/dlm/lock.c
@@ -1527,11 +1527,21 @@ static int find_lkb(struct dlm_ls *ls, uint32_t lkid, struct dlm_lkb **lkb_ret)
 {
 	struct dlm_lkb *lkb;
 
-	read_lock_bh(&ls->ls_lkbxa_lock);
+	rcu_read_lock();
 	lkb = xa_load(&ls->ls_lkbxa, lkid);
-	if (lkb)
-		kref_get(&lkb->lkb_ref);
-	read_unlock_bh(&ls->ls_lkbxa_lock);
+	if (lkb) {
+		/* check if lkb is still part of lkbxa under lkbxa_lock as
+		 * the lkb_ref is tight to the lkbxa data structure, see
+		 * __put_lkb().
+		 */
+		read_lock_bh(&ls->ls_lkbxa_lock);
+		if (kref_read(&lkb->lkb_ref))
+			kref_get(&lkb->lkb_ref);
+		else
+			lkb = NULL;
+		read_unlock_bh(&ls->ls_lkbxa_lock);
+	}
+	rcu_read_unlock();
 
 	*lkb_ret = lkb;
 	return lkb ? 0 : -ENOENT;
diff --git a/fs/dlm/memory.c b/fs/dlm/memory.c
index 442898cf7185..5c35cc67aca4 100644
--- a/fs/dlm/memory.c
+++ b/fs/dlm/memory.c
@@ -115,8 +115,10 @@ struct dlm_lkb *dlm_allocate_lkb(void)
 	return kmem_cache_zalloc(lkb_cache, GFP_ATOMIC);
 }
 
-void dlm_free_lkb(struct dlm_lkb *lkb)
+static void __free_lkb_rcu(struct rcu_head *rcu)
 {
+	struct dlm_lkb *lkb = container_of(rcu, struct dlm_lkb, rcu);
+
 	if (test_bit(DLM_DFL_USER_BIT, &lkb->lkb_dflags)) {
 		struct dlm_user_args *ua;
 		ua = lkb->lkb_ua;
@@ -129,6 +131,11 @@ void dlm_free_lkb(struct dlm_lkb *lkb)
 	kmem_cache_free(lkb_cache, lkb);
 }
 
+void dlm_free_lkb(struct dlm_lkb *lkb)
+{
+	call_rcu(&lkb->rcu, __free_lkb_rcu);
+}
+
 struct dlm_mhandle *dlm_allocate_mhandle(void)
 {
 	return kmem_cache_alloc(mhandle_cache, GFP_ATOMIC);