diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-cache-metadata.c b/drivers/md/dm-cache-metadata.c
index 25b8aebdca53..acd9b179fcb3 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-cache-metadata.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-cache-metadata.c
@@ -1023,6 +1023,12 @@ static bool cmd_write_lock(struct dm_cache_metadata *cmd)
 			return;			\
 	} while (0)
 
+#define WRITE_LOCK_OR_GOTO(cmd, label)		\
+	do {					\
+		if (!cmd_write_lock((cmd)))	\
+			goto label;		\
+	} while (0)
+
 #define WRITE_UNLOCK(cmd) \
 	up_write(&(cmd)->root_lock)
 
@@ -1780,11 +1786,8 @@ int dm_cache_metadata_abort(struct dm_cache_metadata *cmd)
 	new_bm = dm_block_manager_create(cmd->bdev, DM_CACHE_METADATA_BLOCK_SIZE << SECTOR_SHIFT,
 					 CACHE_MAX_CONCURRENT_LOCKS);
 
-	WRITE_LOCK(cmd);
-	if (cmd->fail_io) {
-		WRITE_UNLOCK(cmd);
-		goto out;
-	}
+	/* cmd_write_lock() already checks fail_io with cmd->root_lock held */
+	WRITE_LOCK_OR_GOTO(cmd, out);
 
 	__destroy_persistent_data_objects(cmd, false);
 	old_bm = cmd->bm;