diff --git a/net/devlink/core.c b/net/devlink/core.c
index 6984877e9f10..4275a2bc6d8e 100644
--- a/net/devlink/core.c
+++ b/net/devlink/core.c
@@ -503,14 +503,14 @@ static void __net_exit devlink_pernet_pre_exit(struct net *net)
 	 * all devlink instances from this namespace into init_net.
 	 */
 	devlinks_xa_for_each_registered_get(net, index, devlink) {
-		devl_lock(devlink);
+		devl_dev_lock(devlink, true);
 		err = 0;
 		if (devl_is_registered(devlink))
 			err = devlink_reload(devlink, &init_net,
 					     DEVLINK_RELOAD_ACTION_DRIVER_REINIT,
 					     DEVLINK_RELOAD_LIMIT_UNSPEC,
 					     &actions_performed, NULL);
-		devl_unlock(devlink);
+		devl_dev_unlock(devlink, true);
 		devlink_put(devlink);
 		if (err && err != -EOPNOTSUPP)
 			pr_warn("Failed to reload devlink instance into init_net\n");
diff --git a/net/devlink/devl_internal.h b/net/devlink/devl_internal.h
index 2a9b263300a4..178abaf74a10 100644
--- a/net/devlink/devl_internal.h
+++ b/net/devlink/devl_internal.h
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2016 Jiri Pirko <jiri@mellanox.com>
  */
 
+#include <linux/device.h>
 #include <linux/etherdevice.h>
 #include <linux/mutex.h>
 #include <linux/netdevice.h>
@@ -96,6 +97,20 @@ static inline bool devl_is_registered(struct devlink *devlink)
 	return xa_get_mark(&devlinks, devlink->index, DEVLINK_REGISTERED);
 }
 
+static inline void devl_dev_lock(struct devlink *devlink, bool dev_lock)
+{
+	if (dev_lock)
+		device_lock(devlink->dev);
+	devl_lock(devlink);
+}
+
+static inline void devl_dev_unlock(struct devlink *devlink, bool dev_lock)
+{
+	devl_unlock(devlink);
+	if (dev_lock)
+		device_unlock(devlink->dev);
+}
+
 typedef void devlink_rel_notify_cb_t(struct devlink *devlink, u32 obj_index);
 typedef void devlink_rel_cleanup_cb_t(struct devlink *devlink, u32 obj_index,
 				      u32 rel_index);