diff --git a/fs/ceph/caps.c b/fs/ceph/caps.c
index a11fa0b6b34d5e92e68c8ca6929b9b8a7907e17a..db547af01b593243e79d24a25bded16b0c703632 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/caps.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/caps.c
@@ -1280,6 +1280,7 @@ static int __send_cap(struct ceph_mds_client *mdsc, struct ceph_cap *cap,
 {
 	struct ceph_inode_info *ci = cap->ci;
 	struct inode *inode = &ci->vfs_inode;
+	struct ceph_buffer *old_blob = NULL;
 	struct cap_msg_args arg;
 	int held, revoking;
 	int wake = 0;
@@ -1344,7 +1345,7 @@ static int __send_cap(struct ceph_mds_client *mdsc, struct ceph_cap *cap,
 	ci->i_requested_max_size = arg.max_size;
 
 	if (flushing & CEPH_CAP_XATTR_EXCL) {
-		__ceph_build_xattrs_blob(ci);
+		old_blob = __ceph_build_xattrs_blob(ci);
 		arg.xattr_version = ci->i_xattrs.version;
 		arg.xattr_buf = ci->i_xattrs.blob;
 	} else {
@@ -1379,6 +1380,8 @@ static int __send_cap(struct ceph_mds_client *mdsc, struct ceph_cap *cap,
 
 	spin_unlock(&ci->i_ceph_lock);
 
+	ceph_buffer_put(old_blob);
+
 	ret = send_cap_msg(&arg);
 	if (ret < 0) {
 		dout("error sending cap msg, must requeue %p\n", inode);
diff --git a/fs/ceph/snap.c b/fs/ceph/snap.c
index 1f46b02f7314974a58ad7c290dc810f68629f6b3..5cf7b5f4db947375c499b5aeb5b7db6772ba8a7b 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/snap.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/snap.c
@@ -460,6 +460,7 @@ void ceph_queue_cap_snap(struct ceph_inode_info *ci)
 	struct inode *inode = &ci->vfs_inode;
 	struct ceph_cap_snap *capsnap;
 	struct ceph_snap_context *old_snapc, *new_snapc;
+	struct ceph_buffer *old_blob = NULL;
 	int used, dirty;
 
 	capsnap = kzalloc(sizeof(*capsnap), GFP_NOFS);
@@ -536,7 +537,7 @@ void ceph_queue_cap_snap(struct ceph_inode_info *ci)
 	capsnap->gid = inode->i_gid;
 
 	if (dirty & CEPH_CAP_XATTR_EXCL) {
-		__ceph_build_xattrs_blob(ci);
+		old_blob = __ceph_build_xattrs_blob(ci);
 		capsnap->xattr_blob =
 			ceph_buffer_get(ci->i_xattrs.blob);
 		capsnap->xattr_version = ci->i_xattrs.version;
@@ -579,6 +580,7 @@ void ceph_queue_cap_snap(struct ceph_inode_info *ci)
 	}
 	spin_unlock(&ci->i_ceph_lock);
 
+	ceph_buffer_put(old_blob);
 	kfree(capsnap);
 	ceph_put_snap_context(old_snapc);
 }
diff --git a/fs/ceph/super.h b/fs/ceph/super.h
index d8579a56e5dc2f1b335ab2f2c606183ff03bc31f..0180193097905fb2d2ddff9178d9fecce6b2ebb2 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/super.h
+++ b/fs/ceph/super.h
@@ -896,7 +896,7 @@ extern int ceph_getattr(const struct path *path, struct kstat *stat,
 int __ceph_setxattr(struct inode *, const char *, const void *, size_t, int);
 ssize_t __ceph_getxattr(struct inode *, const char *, void *, size_t);
 extern ssize_t ceph_listxattr(struct dentry *, char *, size_t);
-extern void __ceph_build_xattrs_blob(struct ceph_inode_info *ci);
+extern struct ceph_buffer *__ceph_build_xattrs_blob(struct ceph_inode_info *ci);
 extern void __ceph_destroy_xattrs(struct ceph_inode_info *ci);
 extern void __init ceph_xattr_init(void);
 extern void ceph_xattr_exit(void);
diff --git a/fs/ceph/xattr.c b/fs/ceph/xattr.c
index 71ea45b0231f9d5a41233c3ab996ec7784553b12..5e4f3f833e85e3ab8002dcd79fe4c92de4292d4a 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/xattr.c
@@ -734,12 +734,15 @@ static int __get_required_blob_size(struct ceph_inode_info *ci, int name_size,
 
 /*
  * If there are dirty xattrs, reencode xattrs into the prealloc_blob
- * and swap into place.
+ * and swap into place.  It returns the old i_xattrs.blob (or NULL) so
+ * that it can be freed by the caller as the i_ceph_lock is likely to be
+ * held.
  */
-void __ceph_build_xattrs_blob(struct ceph_inode_info *ci)
+struct ceph_buffer *__ceph_build_xattrs_blob(struct ceph_inode_info *ci)
 {
 	struct rb_node *p;
 	struct ceph_inode_xattr *xattr = NULL;
+	struct ceph_buffer *old_blob = NULL;
 	void *dest;
 
 	dout("__build_xattrs_blob %p\n", &ci->vfs_inode);
@@ -770,12 +773,14 @@ void __ceph_build_xattrs_blob(struct ceph_inode_info *ci)
 			dest - ci->i_xattrs.prealloc_blob->vec.iov_base;
 
 		if (ci->i_xattrs.blob)
-			ceph_buffer_put(ci->i_xattrs.blob);
+			old_blob = ci->i_xattrs.blob;
 		ci->i_xattrs.blob = ci->i_xattrs.prealloc_blob;
 		ci->i_xattrs.prealloc_blob = NULL;
 		ci->i_xattrs.dirty = false;
 		ci->i_xattrs.version++;
 	}
+
+	return old_blob;
 }
 
 static inline int __get_request_mask(struct inode *in) {