diff --git a/include/linux/sunrpc/clnt.h b/include/linux/sunrpc/clnt.h
index ca7e108248e211208c0d2317b3b28cbd8394660f..7bd124e06b36f45e06ef957c3d47fc3a1bcb229e 100644
--- a/include/linux/sunrpc/clnt.h
+++ b/include/linux/sunrpc/clnt.h
@@ -71,7 +71,13 @@ struct rpc_clnt {
 #if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SUNRPC_DEBUG)
 	struct dentry		*cl_debugfs;	/* debugfs directory */
 #endif
-	struct rpc_xprt_iter	cl_xpi;
+	/* cl_work is only needed after cl_xpi is no longer used,
+	 * and that are of similar size
+	 */
+	union {
+		struct rpc_xprt_iter	cl_xpi;
+		struct work_struct	cl_work;
+	};
 	const struct cred	*cl_cred;
 };
 
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
index 05404bb05607b226ae63664dcb5a26f96480fb6e..8350d3a2e9a72309b8238bac4be3e5c603d57a1d 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/clnt.c
@@ -880,6 +880,20 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(rpc_shutdown_client);
 /*
  * Free an RPC client
  */
+static void rpc_free_client_work(struct work_struct *work)
+{
+	struct rpc_clnt *clnt = container_of(work, struct rpc_clnt, cl_work);
+
+	/* These might block on processes that might allocate memory,
+	 * so they cannot be called in rpciod, so they are handled separately
+	 * here.
+	 */
+	rpc_clnt_debugfs_unregister(clnt);
+	rpc_clnt_remove_pipedir(clnt);
+
+	kfree(clnt);
+	rpciod_down();
+}
 static struct rpc_clnt *
 rpc_free_client(struct rpc_clnt *clnt)
 {
@@ -890,17 +904,16 @@ rpc_free_client(struct rpc_clnt *clnt)
 			rcu_dereference(clnt->cl_xprt)->servername);
 	if (clnt->cl_parent != clnt)
 		parent = clnt->cl_parent;
-	rpc_clnt_debugfs_unregister(clnt);
-	rpc_clnt_remove_pipedir(clnt);
 	rpc_unregister_client(clnt);
 	rpc_free_iostats(clnt->cl_metrics);
 	clnt->cl_metrics = NULL;
 	xprt_put(rcu_dereference_raw(clnt->cl_xprt));
 	xprt_iter_destroy(&clnt->cl_xpi);
-	rpciod_down();
 	put_cred(clnt->cl_cred);
 	rpc_free_clid(clnt);
-	kfree(clnt);
+
+	INIT_WORK(&clnt->cl_work, rpc_free_client_work);
+	schedule_work(&clnt->cl_work);
 	return parent;
 }