diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/srq.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/srq.c
index dd890f5d7b72..8711689120f3 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/srq.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx4/srq.c
@@ -44,13 +44,14 @@ void mlx4_srq_event(struct mlx4_dev *dev, u32 srqn, int event_type)
 {
 	struct mlx4_srq_table *srq_table = &mlx4_priv(dev)->srq_table;
 	struct mlx4_srq *srq;
+	unsigned long flags;
 
-	rcu_read_lock();
+	spin_lock_irqsave(&srq_table->lock, flags);
 	srq = radix_tree_lookup(&srq_table->tree, srqn & (dev->caps.num_srqs - 1));
-	rcu_read_unlock();
-	if (srq)
-		refcount_inc(&srq->refcount);
-	else {
+	if (!srq || !refcount_inc_not_zero(&srq->refcount))
+		srq = NULL;
+	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&srq_table->lock, flags);
+	if (!srq) {
 		mlx4_warn(dev, "Async event for bogus SRQ %08x\n", srqn);
 		return;
 	}
@@ -203,8 +204,8 @@ int mlx4_srq_alloc(struct mlx4_dev *dev, u32 pdn, u32 cqn, u16 xrcd,
 	if (err)
 		goto err_radix;
 
-	refcount_set(&srq->refcount, 1);
 	init_completion(&srq->free);
+	refcount_set_release(&srq->refcount, 1);
 
 	return 0;