diff --git a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup-v1.c b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup-v1.c
index f6cc5f8484dc..fd14a60379c1 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup-v1.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup-v1.c
@@ -698,8 +698,6 @@ int cgroupstats_build(struct cgroupstats *stats, struct dentry *dentry)
 	    kernfs_type(kn) != KERNFS_DIR)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	mutex_lock(&cgroup_mutex);
-
 	/*
 	 * We aren't being called from kernfs and there's no guarantee on
 	 * @kn->priv's validity.  For this and css_tryget_online_from_dir(),
@@ -707,9 +705,8 @@ int cgroupstats_build(struct cgroupstats *stats, struct dentry *dentry)
 	 */
 	rcu_read_lock();
 	cgrp = rcu_dereference(*(void __rcu __force **)&kn->priv);
-	if (!cgrp || cgroup_is_dead(cgrp)) {
+	if (!cgrp || !cgroup_tryget(cgrp)) {
 		rcu_read_unlock();
-		mutex_unlock(&cgroup_mutex);
 		return -ENOENT;
 	}
 	rcu_read_unlock();
@@ -737,7 +734,7 @@ int cgroupstats_build(struct cgroupstats *stats, struct dentry *dentry)
 	}
 	css_task_iter_end(&it);
 
-	mutex_unlock(&cgroup_mutex);
+	cgroup_put(cgrp);
 	return 0;
 }