diff --git a/include/linux/rtnetlink.h b/include/linux/rtnetlink.h
index a7da7dfc06a2..c4afe6c49651 100644
--- a/include/linux/rtnetlink.h
+++ b/include/linux/rtnetlink.h
@@ -49,6 +49,19 @@ extern bool refcount_dec_and_rtnl_lock(refcount_t *r);
 
 DEFINE_LOCK_GUARD_0(rtnl, rtnl_lock(), rtnl_unlock())
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_NET_SMALL_RTNL
+void __rtnl_net_lock(struct net *net);
+void __rtnl_net_unlock(struct net *net);
+void rtnl_net_lock(struct net *net);
+void rtnl_net_unlock(struct net *net);
+int rtnl_net_lock_cmp_fn(const struct lockdep_map *a, const struct lockdep_map *b);
+#else
+#define __rtnl_net_lock(net)
+#define __rtnl_net_unlock(net)
+#define rtnl_net_lock(net) rtnl_lock()
+#define rtnl_net_unlock(net) rtnl_unlock()
+#endif
+
 extern wait_queue_head_t netdev_unregistering_wq;
 extern atomic_t dev_unreg_count;
 extern struct rw_semaphore pernet_ops_rwsem;
diff --git a/include/net/net_namespace.h b/include/net/net_namespace.h
index e67b483cc8bb..873c0f9fdac6 100644
--- a/include/net/net_namespace.h
+++ b/include/net/net_namespace.h
@@ -188,6 +188,10 @@ struct net {
 #if IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_SMC)
 	struct netns_smc	smc;
 #endif
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_NET_SMALL_RTNL
+	/* Move to a better place when the config guard is removed. */
+	struct mutex		rtnl_mutex;
+#endif
 } __randomize_layout;
 
 #include <linux/seq_file_net.h>
diff --git a/net/Kconfig.debug b/net/Kconfig.debug
index 5e3fffe707dd..281f34acb89e 100644
--- a/net/Kconfig.debug
+++ b/net/Kconfig.debug
@@ -24,3 +24,17 @@ config DEBUG_NET
 	help
 	  Enable extra sanity checks in networking.
 	  This is mostly used by fuzzers, but is safe to select.
+
+config DEBUG_NET_SMALL_RTNL
+	bool "Add extra per-netns mutex inside RTNL"
+	select PROVE_LOCKING
+	default n
+	help
+	  rtnl_lock() is being replaced with rtnl_net_lock() that
+	  acquires the global RTNL and a small per-netns RTNL mutex.
+
+	  During the conversion, rtnl_net_lock() just adds an extra
+	  mutex in every RTNL scope and slows down the operations.
+
+	  Once the conversion completes, rtnl_lock() will be removed
+	  and rtnetlink will gain per-netns scalability.
diff --git a/net/core/net_namespace.c b/net/core/net_namespace.c
index e39479f1c9a4..105e3cd26763 100644
--- a/net/core/net_namespace.c
+++ b/net/core/net_namespace.c
@@ -334,6 +334,12 @@ static __net_init void preinit_net(struct net *net, struct user_namespace *user_
 	idr_init(&net->netns_ids);
 	spin_lock_init(&net->nsid_lock);
 	mutex_init(&net->ipv4.ra_mutex);
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_NET_SMALL_RTNL
+	mutex_init(&net->rtnl_mutex);
+	lock_set_cmp_fn(&net->rtnl_mutex, rtnl_net_lock_cmp_fn, NULL);
+#endif
+
 	preinit_net_sysctl(net);
 }
 
diff --git a/net/core/rtnetlink.c b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
index f0a520987085..edf530441b65 100644
--- a/net/core/rtnetlink.c
+++ b/net/core/rtnetlink.c
@@ -179,6 +179,64 @@ bool lockdep_rtnl_is_held(void)
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(lockdep_rtnl_is_held);
 #endif /* #ifdef CONFIG_PROVE_LOCKING */
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_NET_SMALL_RTNL
+void __rtnl_net_lock(struct net *net)
+{
+	ASSERT_RTNL();
+
+	mutex_lock(&net->rtnl_mutex);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(__rtnl_net_lock);
+
+void __rtnl_net_unlock(struct net *net)
+{
+	ASSERT_RTNL();
+
+	mutex_unlock(&net->rtnl_mutex);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(__rtnl_net_unlock);
+
+void rtnl_net_lock(struct net *net)
+{
+	rtnl_lock();
+	__rtnl_net_lock(net);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(rtnl_net_lock);
+
+void rtnl_net_unlock(struct net *net)
+{
+	__rtnl_net_unlock(net);
+	rtnl_unlock();
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL(rtnl_net_unlock);
+
+static int rtnl_net_cmp_locks(const struct net *net_a, const struct net *net_b)
+{
+	if (net_eq(net_a, net_b))
+		return 0;
+
+	/* always init_net first */
+	if (net_eq(net_a, &init_net))
+		return -1;
+
+	if (net_eq(net_b, &init_net))
+		return 1;
+
+	/* otherwise lock in ascending order */
+	return net_a < net_b ? -1 : 1;
+}
+
+int rtnl_net_lock_cmp_fn(const struct lockdep_map *a, const struct lockdep_map *b)
+{
+	const struct net *net_a, *net_b;
+
+	net_a = container_of(a, struct net, rtnl_mutex.dep_map);
+	net_b = container_of(b, struct net, rtnl_mutex.dep_map);
+
+	return rtnl_net_cmp_locks(net_a, net_b);
+}
+#endif
+
 static struct rtnl_link __rcu *__rcu *rtnl_msg_handlers[RTNL_FAMILY_MAX + 1];
 
 static inline int rtm_msgindex(int msgtype)
