diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/tcp.c b/drivers/nvme/host/tcp.c
index 2a15c6143f2a..921934028e0b 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/tcp.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/tcp.c
@@ -413,8 +413,13 @@ static inline void nvme_tcp_queue_request(struct nvme_tcp_request *req,
 	 * if we're the first on the send_list and we can try to send
 	 * directly, otherwise queue io_work. Also, only do that if we
 	 * are on the same cpu, so we don't introduce contention.
+	 *
+	 * TLS kTLS send takes ctx->tx_lock while blk_mq holds set->srcu.
+	 * lockdep reports circular locking via elevator_lock.  Defer TLS
+	 * sends to the io workqueue instead of inline from this path.
 	 */
 	if (queue->io_cpu == raw_smp_processor_id() &&
+	    !nvme_tcp_queue_tls(queue) &&
 	    empty && mutex_trylock(&queue->send_mutex)) {
 		nvme_tcp_send_all(queue);
 		mutex_unlock(&queue->send_mutex);