diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index 007fd071b44e..740541f6cad9 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -4945,6 +4945,35 @@ static void stop_sync_thread(struct mddev *mddev, bool locked, bool check_seq)
 		mddev_lock_nointr(mddev);
 }
 
+void md_idle_sync_thread(struct mddev *mddev)
+{
+	lockdep_assert_held(&mddev->reconfig_mutex);
+
+	clear_bit(MD_RECOVERY_FROZEN, &mddev->recovery);
+	stop_sync_thread(mddev, true, true);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(md_idle_sync_thread);
+
+void md_frozen_sync_thread(struct mddev *mddev)
+{
+	lockdep_assert_held(&mddev->reconfig_mutex);
+
+	set_bit(MD_RECOVERY_FROZEN, &mddev->recovery);
+	stop_sync_thread(mddev, true, false);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(md_frozen_sync_thread);
+
+void md_unfrozen_sync_thread(struct mddev *mddev)
+{
+	lockdep_assert_held(&mddev->reconfig_mutex);
+
+	clear_bit(MD_RECOVERY_FROZEN, &mddev->recovery);
+	set_bit(MD_RECOVERY_NEEDED, &mddev->recovery);
+	md_wakeup_thread(mddev->thread);
+	sysfs_notify_dirent_safe(mddev->sysfs_action);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(md_unfrozen_sync_thread);
+
 static void idle_sync_thread(struct mddev *mddev)
 {
 	mutex_lock(&mddev->sync_mutex);
diff --git a/drivers/md/md.h b/drivers/md/md.h
index 27d187ca6258..0d06d640aa06 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.h
+++ b/drivers/md/md.h
@@ -782,6 +782,9 @@ extern void md_rdev_clear(struct md_rdev *rdev);
 extern void md_handle_request(struct mddev *mddev, struct bio *bio);
 extern int mddev_suspend(struct mddev *mddev, bool interruptible);
 extern void mddev_resume(struct mddev *mddev);
+extern void md_idle_sync_thread(struct mddev *mddev);
+extern void md_frozen_sync_thread(struct mddev *mddev);
+extern void md_unfrozen_sync_thread(struct mddev *mddev);
 
 extern void md_reload_sb(struct mddev *mddev, int raid_disk);
 extern void md_update_sb(struct mddev *mddev, int force);