diff --git a/kernel/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup.c
index c02b05560d10..589433f7a74b 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup.c
@@ -4277,6 +4277,7 @@ static int cgroup_destroy_locked(struct cgroup *cgrp)
 	DEFINE_WAIT(wait);
 	struct cgroup_event *event, *tmp;
 	struct cgroup_subsys *ss;
+	LIST_HEAD(tmp_list);
 
 	lockdep_assert_held(&d->d_inode->i_mutex);
 	lockdep_assert_held(&cgroup_mutex);
@@ -4331,16 +4332,20 @@ static int cgroup_destroy_locked(struct cgroup *cgrp)
 	/*
 	 * Unregister events and notify userspace.
 	 * Notify userspace about cgroup removing only after rmdir of cgroup
-	 * directory to avoid race between userspace and kernelspace
+	 * directory to avoid race between userspace and kernelspace. Use
+	 * a temporary list to avoid a deadlock with cgroup_event_wake(). Since
+	 * cgroup_event_wake() is called with the wait queue head locked,
+	 * remove_wait_queue() cannot be called while holding event_list_lock.
 	 */
 	spin_lock(&cgrp->event_list_lock);
-	list_for_each_entry_safe(event, tmp, &cgrp->event_list, list) {
+	list_splice_init(&cgrp->event_list, &tmp_list);
+	spin_unlock(&cgrp->event_list_lock);
+	list_for_each_entry_safe(event, tmp, &tmp_list, list) {
 		list_del(&event->list);
 		remove_wait_queue(event->wqh, &event->wait);
 		eventfd_signal(event->eventfd, 1);
 		schedule_work(&event->remove);
 	}
-	spin_unlock(&cgrp->event_list_lock);
 
 	return 0;
 }