diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_drv.h b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_drv.h
index 4704cfe93279cffb4d3aea84b12bc4c1518c0c99..dd141b25058318479d2438425c5c1f8f6adf8a95 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_drv.h
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_drv.h
@@ -1513,6 +1513,7 @@ struct i915_gem_mm {
 	 */
 	struct llist_head free_list;
 	struct work_struct free_work;
+	spinlock_t free_lock;
 
 	/**
 	 * Small stash of WC pages
diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c
index 60e7fec426e2c80117fe31c4dad0209d38f9a940..f4b5921a9e9b20ec3f28f1f794e3e28f9e326954 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/i915/i915_gem.c
@@ -4555,9 +4555,18 @@ static void i915_gem_flush_free_objects(struct drm_i915_private *i915)
 {
 	struct llist_node *freed;
 
-	freed = llist_del_all(&i915->mm.free_list);
-	if (unlikely(freed))
+	/* Free the oldest, most stale object to keep the free_list short */
+	freed = NULL;
+	if (!llist_empty(&i915->mm.free_list)) { /* quick test for hotpath */
+		/* Only one consumer of llist_del_first() allowed */
+		spin_lock(&i915->mm.free_lock);
+		freed = llist_del_first(&i915->mm.free_list);
+		spin_unlock(&i915->mm.free_lock);
+	}
+	if (unlikely(freed)) {
+		freed->next = NULL;
 		__i915_gem_free_objects(i915, freed);
+	}
 }
 
 static void __i915_gem_free_work(struct work_struct *work)
@@ -5059,6 +5068,7 @@ i915_gem_load_init(struct drm_i915_private *dev_priv)
 	INIT_WORK(&dev_priv->mm.free_work, __i915_gem_free_work);
 
 	spin_lock_init(&dev_priv->mm.obj_lock);
+	spin_lock_init(&dev_priv->mm.free_lock);
 	init_llist_head(&dev_priv->mm.free_list);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&dev_priv->mm.unbound_list);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&dev_priv->mm.bound_list);