diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/msm_gem_submit.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/msm_gem_submit.c
index eb4bb8b2f3a5cae6799e1ef142af1be3da568e5d..ea5f709e2e2780e41356c5233e5e2288e1706755 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/msm_gem_submit.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/msm/msm_gem_submit.c
@@ -372,11 +372,15 @@ int msm_ioctl_gem_submit(struct drm_device *dev, void *data,
 	if (args->nr_cmds > MAX_CMDS)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
-	submit = submit_create(dev, gpu, args->nr_bos);
-	if (!submit)
-		return -ENOMEM;
+	ret = mutex_lock_interruptible(&dev->struct_mutex);
+	if (ret)
+		return ret;
 
-	mutex_lock(&dev->struct_mutex);
+	submit = submit_create(dev, gpu, args->nr_bos);
+	if (!submit) {
+		ret = -ENOMEM;
+		goto out_unlock;
+	}
 
 	ret = submit_lookup_objects(submit, args, file);
 	if (ret)
@@ -462,6 +466,7 @@ int msm_ioctl_gem_submit(struct drm_device *dev, void *data,
 	submit_cleanup(submit);
 	if (ret)
 		msm_gem_submit_free(submit);
+out_unlock:
 	mutex_unlock(&dev->struct_mutex);
 	return ret;
 }