diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 5bd4f18763bdc..9155f00dca20b 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -364,8 +364,12 @@ void mddev_suspend(struct mddev *mddev)
 		return;
 	synchronize_rcu();
 	wake_up(&mddev->sb_wait);
+	set_bit(MD_ALLOW_SB_UPDATE, &mddev->flags);
+	smp_mb__after_atomic();
 	wait_event(mddev->sb_wait, atomic_read(&mddev->active_io) == 0);
 	mddev->pers->quiesce(mddev, 1);
+	clear_bit_unlock(MD_ALLOW_SB_UPDATE, &mddev->flags);
+	wait_event(mddev->sb_wait, !test_bit(MD_UPDATING_SB, &mddev->flags));
 
 	del_timer_sync(&mddev->safemode_timer);
 }
@@ -8838,6 +8842,16 @@ void md_check_recovery(struct mddev *mddev)
 	unlock:
 		wake_up(&mddev->sb_wait);
 		mddev_unlock(mddev);
+	} else if (test_bit(MD_ALLOW_SB_UPDATE, &mddev->flags) && mddev->sb_flags) {
+		/* Write superblock - thread that called mddev_suspend()
+		 * holds reconfig_mutex for us.
+		 */
+		set_bit(MD_UPDATING_SB, &mddev->flags);
+		smp_mb__after_atomic();
+		if (test_bit(MD_ALLOW_SB_UPDATE, &mddev->flags))
+			md_update_sb(mddev, 0);
+		clear_bit_unlock(MD_UPDATING_SB, &mddev->flags);
+		wake_up(&mddev->sb_wait);
 	}
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(md_check_recovery);
diff --git a/drivers/md/md.h b/drivers/md/md.h
index d8287d3cd1bf8..03fc641e5da17 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.h
+++ b/drivers/md/md.h
@@ -237,6 +237,12 @@ enum mddev_flags {
 				 */
 	MD_HAS_PPL,		/* The raid array has PPL feature set */
 	MD_HAS_MULTIPLE_PPLS,	/* The raid array has multiple PPLs feature set */
+	MD_ALLOW_SB_UPDATE,	/* md_check_recovery is allowed to update
+				 * the metadata without taking reconfig_mutex.
+				 */
+	MD_UPDATING_SB,		/* md_check_recovery is updating the metadata
+				 * without explicitly holding reconfig_mutex.
+				 */
 };
 
 enum mddev_sb_flags {