diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 9b73cf139b800b266e170057d1744d37d894b3f0..ba152dddaaa339e8491e0d9e1bdf21f664369aab 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -8595,6 +8595,10 @@ static int remove_and_add_spares(struct mddev *mddev,
 	int removed = 0;
 	bool remove_some = false;
 
+	if (this && test_bit(MD_RECOVERY_RUNNING, &mddev->recovery))
+		/* Mustn't remove devices when resync thread is running */
+		return 0;
+
 	rdev_for_each(rdev, mddev) {
 		if ((this == NULL || rdev == this) &&
 		    rdev->raid_disk >= 0 &&