diff --git a/drivers/char/tpm/tpm-dev-common.c b/drivers/char/tpm/tpm-dev-common.c
index 8856cce5a23b..817ae09a369e 100644
--- a/drivers/char/tpm/tpm-dev-common.c
+++ b/drivers/char/tpm/tpm-dev-common.c
@@ -233,12 +233,19 @@ __poll_t tpm_common_poll(struct file *file, poll_table *wait)
 	__poll_t mask = 0;
 
 	poll_wait(file, &priv->async_wait, wait);
+	mutex_lock(&priv->buffer_mutex);
 
-	if (!priv->response_read || priv->response_length)
+	/*
+	 * The response_length indicates if there is still response
+	 * (or part of it) to be consumed. Partial reads decrease it
+	 * by the number of bytes read, and write resets it the zero.
+	 */
+	if (priv->response_length)
 		mask = EPOLLIN | EPOLLRDNORM;
 	else
 		mask = EPOLLOUT | EPOLLWRNORM;
 
+	mutex_unlock(&priv->buffer_mutex);
 	return mask;
 }