diff --git a/fs/kernfs/inode.c b/fs/kernfs/inode.c
index abb0f1f53d93..985217626e66 100644
--- a/fs/kernfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/kernfs/inode.c
@@ -48,14 +48,18 @@ void __init kernfs_inode_init(void)
 
 static struct kernfs_iattrs *kernfs_iattrs(struct kernfs_node *kn)
 {
+	static DEFINE_MUTEX(iattr_mutex);
+	struct kernfs_iattrs *ret;
 	struct iattr *iattrs;
 
+	mutex_lock(&iattr_mutex);
+
 	if (kn->iattr)
-		return kn->iattr;
+		goto out_unlock;
 
 	kn->iattr = kzalloc(sizeof(struct kernfs_iattrs), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!kn->iattr)
-		return NULL;
+		goto out_unlock;
 	iattrs = &kn->iattr->ia_iattr;
 
 	/* assign default attributes */
@@ -65,8 +69,10 @@ static struct kernfs_iattrs *kernfs_iattrs(struct kernfs_node *kn)
 	iattrs->ia_atime = iattrs->ia_mtime = iattrs->ia_ctime = CURRENT_TIME;
 
 	simple_xattrs_init(&kn->iattr->xattrs);
-
-	return kn->iattr;
+out_unlock:
+	ret = kn->iattr;
+	mutex_unlock(&iattr_mutex);
+	return ret;
 }
 
 static int __kernfs_setattr(struct kernfs_node *kn, const struct iattr *iattr)