diff --git a/drivers/md/raid5.c b/drivers/md/raid5.c
index 4bbd2a247dc7..68d86dbecb4a 100644
--- a/drivers/md/raid5.c
+++ b/drivers/md/raid5.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
  */
 
 #include <linux/blkdev.h>
+#include <linux/delay.h>
 #include <linux/kthread.h>
 #include <linux/raid/pq.h>
 #include <linux/async_tx.h>
@@ -6842,7 +6843,18 @@ static void raid5d(struct md_thread *thread)
 			spin_unlock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
 			md_check_recovery(mddev);
 			spin_lock_irq(&conf->device_lock);
+
+			/*
+			 * Waiting on MD_SB_CHANGE_PENDING below may deadlock
+			 * seeing md_check_recovery() is needed to clear
+			 * the flag when using mdmon.
+			 */
+			continue;
 		}
+
+		wait_event_lock_irq(mddev->sb_wait,
+			!test_bit(MD_SB_CHANGE_PENDING, &mddev->sb_flags),
+			conf->device_lock);
 	}
 	pr_debug("%d stripes handled\n", handled);