diff --git a/include/linux/workqueue.h b/include/linux/workqueue.h
index 1751ec4c47c9c079aa78b7c7a952e616d0ff6a9c..5668ab249af55c3f24e1f442ea982bb10c6ead29 100644
--- a/include/linux/workqueue.h
+++ b/include/linux/workqueue.h
@@ -295,6 +295,7 @@ enum {
 	WQ_CPU_INTENSIVE	= 1 << 5, /* cpu instensive workqueue */
 
 	__WQ_DRAINING		= 1 << 16, /* internal: workqueue is draining */
+	__WQ_ORDERED		= 1 << 17, /* internal: workqueue is ordered */
 
 	WQ_MAX_ACTIVE		= 512,	  /* I like 512, better ideas? */
 	WQ_MAX_UNBOUND_PER_CPU	= 4,	  /* 4 * #cpus for unbound wq */
@@ -397,7 +398,7 @@ __alloc_workqueue_key(const char *fmt, unsigned int flags, int max_active,
  * Pointer to the allocated workqueue on success, %NULL on failure.
  */
 #define alloc_ordered_workqueue(fmt, flags, args...)			\
-	alloc_workqueue(fmt, WQ_UNBOUND | (flags), 1, ##args)
+	alloc_workqueue(fmt, WQ_UNBOUND | __WQ_ORDERED | (flags), 1, ##args)
 
 #define create_workqueue(name)						\
 	alloc_workqueue((name), WQ_MEM_RECLAIM, 1)
diff --git a/kernel/workqueue.c b/kernel/workqueue.c
index 590f4d048ec7245198bcd1ee2254244a3e768a55..cecd4ffe2c40c20ec554da3e0058dcb355658469 100644
--- a/kernel/workqueue.c
+++ b/kernel/workqueue.c
@@ -3494,9 +3494,14 @@ int apply_workqueue_attrs(struct workqueue_struct *wq,
 	struct pool_workqueue *pwq, *last_pwq;
 	struct worker_pool *pool;
 
+	/* only unbound workqueues can change attributes */
 	if (WARN_ON(!(wq->flags & WQ_UNBOUND)))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
+	/* creating multiple pwqs breaks ordering guarantee */
+	if (WARN_ON((wq->flags & __WQ_ORDERED) && !list_empty(&wq->pwqs)))
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	pwq = kmem_cache_zalloc(pwq_cache, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!pwq)
 		return -ENOMEM;
@@ -3752,6 +3757,10 @@ void workqueue_set_max_active(struct workqueue_struct *wq, int max_active)
 {
 	struct pool_workqueue *pwq;
 
+	/* disallow meddling with max_active for ordered workqueues */
+	if (WARN_ON(wq->flags & __WQ_ORDERED))
+		return;
+
 	max_active = wq_clamp_max_active(max_active, wq->flags, wq->name);
 
 	spin_lock_irq(&workqueue_lock);