diff --git a/drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c b/drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c
index 862ed8ece14e..a3577271b1b8 100644
--- a/drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/bonding/bond_main.c
@@ -2088,27 +2088,25 @@ static int bond_slave_info_query(struct net_device *bond_dev, struct ifslave *in
 
 /*-------------------------------- Monitoring -------------------------------*/
 
-/* this function is called regularly to monitor each slave's link. */
-void bond_mii_monitor(struct work_struct *work)
+/*
+ * if !have_locks, return nonzero if a failover is necessary.  if
+ * have_locks, do whatever failover activities are needed.
+ *
+ * This is to separate the inspection and failover steps for locking
+ * purposes; failover requires rtnl, but acquiring it for every
+ * inspection is undesirable, so a wrapper first does inspection, and
+ * the acquires the necessary locks and calls again to perform
+ * failover if needed.  Since all locks are dropped, a complete
+ * restart is needed between calls.
+ */
+static int __bond_mii_monitor(struct bonding *bond, int have_locks)
 {
-	struct bonding *bond = container_of(work, struct bonding,
-					    mii_work.work);
 	struct slave *slave, *oldcurrent;
 	int do_failover = 0;
-	int delta_in_ticks;
 	int i;
 
-	read_lock(&bond->lock);
-
-	delta_in_ticks = (bond->params.miimon * HZ) / 1000;
-
-	if (bond->kill_timers) {
+	if (bond->slave_cnt == 0)
 		goto out;
-	}
-
-	if (bond->slave_cnt == 0) {
-		goto re_arm;
-	}
 
 	/* we will try to read the link status of each of our slaves, and
 	 * set their IFF_RUNNING flag appropriately. For each slave not
@@ -2175,6 +2173,9 @@ void bond_mii_monitor(struct work_struct *work)
 			if (link_state != BMSR_LSTATUS) {
 				/* link stays down */
 				if (slave->delay <= 0) {
+					if (!have_locks)
+						return 1;
+
 					/* link down for too long time */
 					slave->link = BOND_LINK_DOWN;
 
@@ -2258,6 +2259,9 @@ void bond_mii_monitor(struct work_struct *work)
 			} else {
 				/* link stays up */
 				if (slave->delay == 0) {
+					if (!have_locks)
+						return 1;
+
 					/* now the link has been up for long time enough */
 					slave->link = BOND_LINK_UP;
 					slave->jiffies = jiffies;
@@ -2331,13 +2335,41 @@ void bond_mii_monitor(struct work_struct *work)
 	} else
 		bond_set_carrier(bond);
 
-re_arm:
-	if (bond->params.miimon)
-		queue_delayed_work(bond->wq, &bond->mii_work, delta_in_ticks);
 out:
-	read_unlock(&bond->lock);
+	return 0;
 }
 
+/*
+ * bond_mii_monitor
+ *
+ * Really a wrapper that splits the mii monitor into two phases: an
+ * inspection, then (if inspection indicates something needs to be
+ * done) an acquisition of appropriate locks followed by another pass
+ * to implement whatever link state changes are indicated.
+ */
+void bond_mii_monitor(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+	struct bonding *bond = container_of(work, struct bonding,
+					    mii_work.work);
+	unsigned long delay;
+
+	read_lock(&bond->lock);
+	if (bond->kill_timers) {
+		read_unlock(&bond->lock);
+		return;
+	}
+	if (__bond_mii_monitor(bond, 0)) {
+		read_unlock(&bond->lock);
+		rtnl_lock();
+		read_lock(&bond->lock);
+		__bond_mii_monitor(bond, 1);
+		rtnl_unlock();
+	}
+
+	delay = ((bond->params.miimon * HZ) / 1000) ? : 1;
+	read_unlock(&bond->lock);
+	queue_delayed_work(bond->wq, &bond->mii_work, delay);
+}
 
 static __be32 bond_glean_dev_ip(struct net_device *dev)
 {