diff --git a/net/mac80211/sta_info.c b/net/mac80211/sta_info.c
index 5497ca1..dfca96e 100644
--- a/net/mac80211/sta_info.c
+++ b/net/mac80211/sta_info.c
@@ -180,13 +180,22 @@
 		mesh_plink_deactivate(sta);
 #endif
 
-	/*
-	 * NOTE: This will call synchronize_rcu() internally to
-	 * make sure no key references can be in use. We rely on
-	 * that here for the mesh code!
-	 */
-	ieee80211_key_free(sta->key);
-	WARN_ON(sta->key);
+	if (sta->key) {
+		/*
+		 * NOTE: This will call synchronize_rcu() internally to
+		 * make sure no key references can be in use. We rely on
+		 * that when we take this branch to make sure nobody can
+		 * reference this STA struct any longer!
+		 */
+		ieee80211_key_free(sta->key);
+		WARN_ON(sta->key);
+	} else {
+		/*
+		 * Make sure that nobody can reference this STA struct
+		 * any longer.
+		 */
+		synchronize_rcu();
+	}
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_MAC80211_MESH
 	if (ieee80211_vif_is_mesh(&sta->sdata->vif))
@@ -628,11 +637,9 @@
 		rate_control_add_sta_debugfs(sta);
 
 		sta = __sta_info_unpin(sta);
-
-		if (sta) {
-			synchronize_rcu();
-			sta_info_destroy(sta);
-		}
+		rtnl_lock();
+		sta_info_destroy(sta);
+		rtnl_unlock();
 	}
 }
 #endif
@@ -694,8 +701,6 @@
 	}
 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&local->sta_lock, flags);
 
-	synchronize_rcu();
-
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(sta, tmp, &tmp_list, list)
 		sta_info_destroy(sta);