diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_multicast.c b/drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_multicast.c
index 9e6967a40042..319d4288eddd 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_multicast.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/ipoib_multicast.c
@@ -531,21 +531,17 @@ static int ipoib_mcast_join(struct net_device *dev, struct ipoib_mcast *mcast)
 		if (test_bit(IPOIB_MCAST_FLAG_SENDONLY, &mcast->flags))
 			rec.join_state = SENDONLY_FULLMEMBER_JOIN;
 	}
-	spin_unlock_irq(&priv->lock);
 
 	multicast = ib_sa_join_multicast(&ipoib_sa_client, priv->ca, priv->port,
-					 &rec, comp_mask, GFP_KERNEL,
+					 &rec, comp_mask, GFP_ATOMIC,
 					 ipoib_mcast_join_complete, mcast);
-	spin_lock_irq(&priv->lock);
 	if (IS_ERR(multicast)) {
 		ret = PTR_ERR(multicast);
 		ipoib_warn(priv, "ib_sa_join_multicast failed, status %d\n", ret);
 		/* Requeue this join task with a backoff delay */
 		__ipoib_mcast_schedule_join_thread(priv, mcast, 1);
 		clear_bit(IPOIB_MCAST_FLAG_BUSY, &mcast->flags);
-		spin_unlock_irq(&priv->lock);
 		complete(&mcast->done);
-		spin_lock_irq(&priv->lock);
 		return ret;
 	}
 	return 0;