diff --git a/security/device_cgroup.c b/security/device_cgroup.c
index b08d20c66c2..78a16f5b727 100644
--- a/security/device_cgroup.c
+++ b/security/device_cgroup.c
@@ -82,6 +82,8 @@ static int dev_exceptions_copy(struct list_head *dest, struct list_head *orig)
 {
 	struct dev_exception_item *ex, *tmp, *new;
 
+	lockdep_assert_held(&devcgroup_mutex);
+
 	list_for_each_entry(ex, orig, list) {
 		new = kmemdup(ex, sizeof(*ex), GFP_KERNEL);
 		if (!new)
@@ -107,6 +109,8 @@ static int dev_exception_add(struct dev_cgroup *dev_cgroup,
 {
 	struct dev_exception_item *excopy, *walk;
 
+	lockdep_assert_held(&devcgroup_mutex);
+
 	excopy = kmemdup(ex, sizeof(*ex), GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!excopy)
 		return -ENOMEM;
@@ -137,6 +141,8 @@ static void dev_exception_rm(struct dev_cgroup *dev_cgroup,
 {
 	struct dev_exception_item *walk, *tmp;
 
+	lockdep_assert_held(&devcgroup_mutex);
+
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(walk, tmp, &dev_cgroup->exceptions, list) {
 		if (walk->type != ex->type)
 			continue;
@@ -163,6 +169,8 @@ static void dev_exception_clean(struct dev_cgroup *dev_cgroup)
 {
 	struct dev_exception_item *ex, *tmp;
 
+	lockdep_assert_held(&devcgroup_mutex);
+
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(ex, tmp, &dev_cgroup->exceptions, list) {
 		list_del_rcu(&ex->list);
 		kfree_rcu(ex, rcu);
@@ -298,6 +306,10 @@ static int may_access(struct dev_cgroup *dev_cgroup,
 	struct dev_exception_item *ex;
 	bool match = false;
 
+	rcu_lockdep_assert(rcu_read_lock_held() ||
+			   lockdep_is_held(&devcgroup_mutex),
+			   "device_cgroup::may_access() called without proper synchronization");
+
 	list_for_each_entry_rcu(ex, &dev_cgroup->exceptions, list) {
 		if ((refex->type & DEV_BLOCK) && !(ex->type & DEV_BLOCK))
 			continue;