diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index fcb878f88796c8ab884da058b36ea5f287fe2eab..aeceedfc530b90b5da5b45e12ffdc9e4d665e16d 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -7663,10 +7663,8 @@ static int remove_and_add_spares(struct mddev *mddev)
 				removed++;
 			}
 		}
-	if (removed)
-		sysfs_notify(&mddev->kobj, NULL,
-			     "degraded");
-
+	if (removed && mddev->kobj.sd)
+		sysfs_notify(&mddev->kobj, NULL, "degraded");
 
 	rdev_for_each(rdev, mddev) {
 		if (rdev->raid_disk >= 0 &&
diff --git a/drivers/md/md.h b/drivers/md/md.h
index eca59c3074ef65bee75301f92411d9968adbaf9d..d90fb1a879e1902200c63117cc9465781a5eb871 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.h
+++ b/drivers/md/md.h
@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ static inline char * mdname (struct mddev * mddev)
 static inline int sysfs_link_rdev(struct mddev *mddev, struct md_rdev *rdev)
 {
 	char nm[20];
-	if (!test_bit(Replacement, &rdev->flags)) {
+	if (!test_bit(Replacement, &rdev->flags) && mddev->kobj.sd) {
 		sprintf(nm, "rd%d", rdev->raid_disk);
 		return sysfs_create_link(&mddev->kobj, &rdev->kobj, nm);
 	} else
@@ -516,7 +516,7 @@ static inline int sysfs_link_rdev(struct mddev *mddev, struct md_rdev *rdev)
 static inline void sysfs_unlink_rdev(struct mddev *mddev, struct md_rdev *rdev)
 {
 	char nm[20];
-	if (!test_bit(Replacement, &rdev->flags)) {
+	if (!test_bit(Replacement, &rdev->flags) && mddev->kobj.sd) {
 		sprintf(nm, "rd%d", rdev->raid_disk);
 		sysfs_remove_link(&mddev->kobj, nm);
 	}