diff --git a/mm/memcontrol-v1.c b/mm/memcontrol-v1.c
index 135622b6172b..e8b6e1560278 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol-v1.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol-v1.c
@@ -1805,6 +1805,10 @@ static int mem_cgroup_resize_max(struct mem_cgroup *memcg,
 		if (!ret)
 			break;
 
+		/* cgroup_rmdir() waits for us with cgroup_mutex held. */
+		if (memcg_is_dying(memcg))
+			break;
+
 		if (!drained) {
 			drain_all_stock(memcg);
 			drained = true;
@@ -1843,6 +1847,10 @@ static int mem_cgroup_force_empty(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
 		if (signal_pending(current))
 			return -EINTR;
 
+		/* cgroup_rmdir() waits for us with cgroup_mutex held. */
+		if (memcg_is_dying(memcg))
+			break;
+
 		if (!try_to_free_mem_cgroup_pages(memcg, 1, GFP_KERNEL,
 						  MEMCG_RECLAIM_MAY_SWAP, NULL))
 			nr_retries--;