diff --git a/include/linux/kvm_host.h b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
index 2451f48..d94ee72 100644
--- a/include/linux/kvm_host.h
+++ b/include/linux/kvm_host.h
@@ -141,7 +141,12 @@ struct kvm {
 	struct kvm_io_bus mmio_bus;
 	struct kvm_io_bus pio_bus;
 #ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_KVM_EVENTFD
-	struct list_head irqfds;
+	struct {
+		spinlock_t        lock;
+		struct list_head  items;
+		atomic_t          outstanding;
+		wait_queue_head_t wqh;
+	} irqfds;
 #endif
 	struct kvm_vm_stat stat;
 	struct kvm_arch arch;
diff --git a/virt/kvm/Kconfig b/virt/kvm/Kconfig
index daece36..ab7848a 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/Kconfig
+++ b/virt/kvm/Kconfig
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ config HAVE_KVM_IRQCHIP
 config HAVE_KVM_EVENTFD
        bool
        select EVENTFD
+       select SLOW_WORK
 
 config KVM_APIC_ARCHITECTURE
        bool
diff --git a/virt/kvm/eventfd.c b/virt/kvm/eventfd.c
index 9656027..ca21e8a 100644
--- a/virt/kvm/eventfd.c
+++ b/virt/kvm/eventfd.c
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 #include <linux/file.h>
 #include <linux/list.h>
 #include <linux/eventfd.h>
+#include <linux/slow-work.h>
 
 /*
  * --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -36,17 +37,36 @@
  * Credit goes to Avi Kivity for the original idea.
  * --------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
+
 struct _irqfd {
 	struct kvm               *kvm;
+	struct eventfd_ctx       *eventfd;
 	int                       gsi;
 	struct list_head          list;
 	poll_table                pt;
 	wait_queue_head_t        *wqh;
 	wait_queue_t              wait;
 	struct work_struct        inject;
+	struct slow_work          shutdown;
+	int                       active:1;
 };
 
 static void
+irqfd_release(struct _irqfd *irqfd)
+{
+	eventfd_ctx_put(irqfd->eventfd);
+	kfree(irqfd);
+}
+
+/* assumes kvm->irqfds.lock is held */
+static void
+irqfd_deactivate(struct _irqfd *irqfd)
+{
+	irqfd->active = false;
+	list_del(&irqfd->list);
+}
+
+static void
 irqfd_inject(struct work_struct *work)
 {
 	struct _irqfd *irqfd = container_of(work, struct _irqfd, inject);
@@ -58,6 +78,55 @@ irqfd_inject(struct work_struct *work)
 	mutex_unlock(&kvm->irq_lock);
 }
 
+static struct _irqfd *
+work_to_irqfd(struct slow_work *work)
+{
+	return container_of(work, struct _irqfd, shutdown);
+}
+
+static int
+irqfd_shutdown_get_ref(struct slow_work *work)
+{
+	struct _irqfd *irqfd = work_to_irqfd(work);
+	struct kvm *kvm = irqfd->kvm;
+
+	atomic_inc(&kvm->irqfds.outstanding);
+
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static void
+irqfd_shutdown_put_ref(struct slow_work *work)
+{
+	struct _irqfd *irqfd = work_to_irqfd(work);
+	struct kvm *kvm = irqfd->kvm;
+
+	irqfd_release(irqfd);
+
+	if (atomic_dec_and_test(&kvm->irqfds.outstanding))
+		wake_up(&kvm->irqfds.wqh);
+}
+
+static void
+irqfd_shutdown_execute(struct slow_work *work)
+{
+	struct _irqfd *irqfd = work_to_irqfd(work);
+
+	/*
+	 * Ensure there are no outstanding "inject" work-items before we blow
+	 * away our state.  Once this job completes, the slow_work
+	 * infrastructure will drop the irqfd object completely via put_ref
+	 */
+	flush_work(&irqfd->inject);
+}
+
+const static struct slow_work_ops irqfd_shutdown_work_ops = {
+	.get_ref = irqfd_shutdown_get_ref,
+	.put_ref = irqfd_shutdown_put_ref,
+	.execute = irqfd_shutdown_execute,
+};
+
+
 static int
 irqfd_wakeup(wait_queue_t *wait, unsigned mode, int sync, void *key)
 {
@@ -65,25 +134,39 @@ irqfd_wakeup(wait_queue_t *wait, unsigned mode, int sync, void *key)
 	unsigned long flags = (unsigned long)key;
 
 	/*
-	 * Assume we will be called with interrupts disabled
+	 * Called with interrupts disabled
 	 */
 	if (flags & POLLIN)
-		/*
-		 * Defer the IRQ injection until later since we need to
-		 * acquire the kvm->lock to do so.
-		 */
+		/* An event has been signaled, inject an interrupt */
 		schedule_work(&irqfd->inject);
 
 	if (flags & POLLHUP) {
-		/*
-		 * for now, just remove ourselves from the list and let
-		 * the rest dangle.  We will fix this up later once
-		 * the races in eventfd are fixed
-		 */
+		/* The eventfd is closing, detach from KVM */
+		struct kvm *kvm = irqfd->kvm;
+		unsigned long flags;
+
 		__remove_wait_queue(irqfd->wqh, &irqfd->wait);
-		irqfd->wqh = NULL;
+
+		spin_lock_irqsave(&kvm->irqfds.lock, flags);
+
+		if (irqfd->active) {
+			/*
+			 * If the item is still active we can be sure that
+			 * no-one else is trying to shutdown this object at
+			 * the same time.
+			 *
+			 * Defer the shutdown to a thread so we can flush
+			 * all remaining inject jobs.  We use a slow-work
+			 * item to prevent a deadlock against the work-queue
+			 */
+			irqfd_deactivate(irqfd);
+			slow_work_enqueue(&irqfd->shutdown);
+		}
+
+		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&kvm->irqfds.lock, flags);
 	}
 
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -102,6 +185,7 @@ kvm_irqfd(struct kvm *kvm, int fd, int gsi, int flags)
 {
 	struct _irqfd *irqfd;
 	struct file *file = NULL;
+	struct eventfd_ctx *eventfd = NULL;
 	int ret;
 	unsigned int events;
 
@@ -113,6 +197,8 @@ kvm_irqfd(struct kvm *kvm, int fd, int gsi, int flags)
 	irqfd->gsi = gsi;
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&irqfd->list);
 	INIT_WORK(&irqfd->inject, irqfd_inject);
+	slow_work_init(&irqfd->shutdown, &irqfd_shutdown_work_ops);
+	irqfd->active = true;
 
 	file = eventfd_fget(fd);
 	if (IS_ERR(file)) {
@@ -129,12 +215,21 @@ kvm_irqfd(struct kvm *kvm, int fd, int gsi, int flags)
 
 	events = file->f_op->poll(file, &irqfd->pt);
 
-	mutex_lock(&kvm->lock);
-	list_add_tail(&irqfd->list, &kvm->irqfds);
-	mutex_unlock(&kvm->lock);
+	spin_lock_irq(&kvm->irqfds.lock);
+	list_add_tail(&irqfd->list, &kvm->irqfds.items);
+	spin_unlock_irq(&kvm->irqfds.lock);
+
+	eventfd = eventfd_ctx_fileget(file);
+	if (IS_ERR(file)) {
+		ret = PTR_ERR(file);
+		goto fail;
+	}
+
+	irqfd->eventfd = eventfd;
 
 	/*
-	 * Check if there was an event already queued
+	 * Check if there was an event already pending on the eventfd
+	 * before we registered, and trigger it as if we didn't miss it.
 	 */
 	if (events & POLLIN)
 		schedule_work(&irqfd->inject);
@@ -148,6 +243,9 @@ kvm_irqfd(struct kvm *kvm, int fd, int gsi, int flags)
 	return 0;
 
 fail:
+	if (eventfd && !IS_ERR(eventfd))
+		eventfd_ctx_put(eventfd);
+
 	if (file && !IS_ERR(file))
 		fput(file);
 
@@ -158,24 +256,71 @@ fail:
 void
 kvm_irqfd_init(struct kvm *kvm)
 {
-	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&kvm->irqfds);
+	slow_work_register_user();
+
+	spin_lock_init(&kvm->irqfds.lock);
+	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&kvm->irqfds.items);
+	atomic_set(&kvm->irqfds.outstanding, 0);
+	init_waitqueue_head(&kvm->irqfds.wqh);
+}
+
+static struct _irqfd *
+irqfd_pop(struct kvm *kvm)
+{
+	struct _irqfd *irqfd = NULL;
+
+	spin_lock_irq(&kvm->irqfds.lock);
+
+	if (!list_empty(&kvm->irqfds.items)) {
+		irqfd = list_first_entry(&kvm->irqfds.items,
+					 struct _irqfd, list);
+		irqfd_deactivate(irqfd);
+	}
+
+	spin_unlock_irq(&kvm->irqfds.lock);
+
+	return irqfd;
+}
+
+/*
+ * locally releases the irqfd
+ *
+ * This function is called when KVM won the race with eventfd (signalled by
+ * finding the item active on the kvm->irqfds.item list). We are now guaranteed
+ * that we will never schedule a deferred shutdown task against this object,
+ * so we take steps to perform the shutdown ourselves.
+ *
+ * 1) We must remove ourselves from the wait-queue to prevent further events,
+ *    which will simultaneously act to sync us with eventfd (via wqh->lock)
+ * 2) Flush any outstanding inject-tasks to ensure its safe to free memory
+ * 3) Delete the object
+ */
+static void
+irqfd_shutdown(struct _irqfd *irqfd)
+{
+	remove_wait_queue(irqfd->wqh, &irqfd->wait);
+	flush_work(&irqfd->inject);
+	irqfd_release(irqfd);
 }
 
 void
 kvm_irqfd_release(struct kvm *kvm)
 {
-	struct _irqfd *irqfd, *tmp;
-
-	list_for_each_entry_safe(irqfd, tmp, &kvm->irqfds, list) {
-		if (irqfd->wqh)
-			remove_wait_queue(irqfd->wqh, &irqfd->wait);
+	struct _irqfd *irqfd;
 
-		flush_work(&irqfd->inject);
+	/*
+	 * Shutdown all irqfds that still remain
+	 */
+	while ((irqfd = irqfd_pop(kvm)))
+		irqfd_shutdown(irqfd);
 
-		mutex_lock(&kvm->lock);
-		list_del(&irqfd->list);
-		mutex_unlock(&kvm->lock);
+	/*
+	 * irqfds.outstanding tracks the number of outstanding "shutdown"
+	 * jobs pending at any given time.  Once we get here, we know that
+	 * no more jobs will get scheduled, so go ahead and block until all
+	 * of them complete
+	 */
+	wait_event(kvm->irqfds.wqh, (!atomic_read(&kvm->irqfds.outstanding)));
 
-		kfree(irqfd);
-	}
+	slow_work_unregister_user();
 }
