diff --git a/fs/nfsd/nfssvc.c b/fs/nfsd/nfssvc.c
index a0ecec54d3d7d5..606347b104afde 100644
--- a/fs/nfsd/nfssvc.c
+++ b/fs/nfsd/nfssvc.c
@@ -991,31 +991,8 @@ nfsd(void *vrqstp)
 	atomic_dec(&nfsdstats.th_cnt);
 
 out:
-	/* Take an extra ref so that the svc_put in svc_exit_thread()
-	 * doesn't call svc_destroy()
-	 */
-	svc_get(nn->nfsd_serv);
-
 	/* Release the thread */
 	svc_exit_thread(rqstp);
-
-	/* We need to drop a ref, but may not drop the last reference
-	 * without holding nfsd_mutex, and we cannot wait for nfsd_mutex as that
-	 * could deadlock with nfsd_shutdown_threads() waiting for us.
-	 * So three options are:
-	 * - drop a non-final reference,
-	 * - get the mutex without waiting
-	 * - sleep briefly andd try the above again
-	 */
-	while (!svc_put_not_last(nn->nfsd_serv)) {
-		if (mutex_trylock(&nfsd_mutex)) {
-			nfsd_put(net);
-			mutex_unlock(&nfsd_mutex);
-			break;
-		}
-		msleep(20);
-	}
-
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/include/linux/sunrpc/svc.h b/include/linux/sunrpc/svc.h
index 53405c282209f0..6e48c1c88f1bb2 100644
--- a/include/linux/sunrpc/svc.h
+++ b/include/linux/sunrpc/svc.h
@@ -123,19 +123,6 @@ static inline void svc_put(struct svc_serv *serv)
 	kref_put(&serv->sv_refcnt, svc_destroy);
 }
 
-/**
- * svc_put_not_last - decrement non-final reference count on SUNRPC serv
- * @serv:  the svc_serv to have count decremented
- *
- * Returns: %true is refcount was decremented.
- *
- * If the refcount is 1, it is not decremented and instead failure is reported.
- */
-static inline bool svc_put_not_last(struct svc_serv *serv)
-{
-	return refcount_dec_not_one(&serv->sv_refcnt.refcount);
-}
-
 /*
  * Maximum payload size supported by a kernel RPC server.
  * This is use to determine the max number of pages nfsd is