diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
index 58342390966b7ffb3afaab756c0c228c14e69a64..70f7a638b6db9a2548456cc1d8610fe6ad4c6cf0 100644
--- a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
+++ b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
@@ -946,13 +946,14 @@ static ssize_t show(struct kobject *kobj, struct attribute *attr, char *buf)
 {
 	struct cpufreq_policy *policy = to_policy(kobj);
 	struct freq_attr *fattr = to_attr(attr);
-	ssize_t ret;
+	ssize_t ret = -EBUSY;
 
 	if (!fattr->show)
 		return -EIO;
 
 	down_read(&policy->rwsem);
-	ret = fattr->show(policy, buf);
+	if (likely(!policy_is_inactive(policy)))
+		ret = fattr->show(policy, buf);
 	up_read(&policy->rwsem);
 
 	return ret;
@@ -963,7 +964,7 @@ static ssize_t store(struct kobject *kobj, struct attribute *attr,
 {
 	struct cpufreq_policy *policy = to_policy(kobj);
 	struct freq_attr *fattr = to_attr(attr);
-	ssize_t ret = -EINVAL;
+	ssize_t ret = -EBUSY;
 
 	if (!fattr->store)
 		return -EIO;
@@ -977,7 +978,8 @@ static ssize_t store(struct kobject *kobj, struct attribute *attr,
 
 	if (cpu_online(policy->cpu)) {
 		down_write(&policy->rwsem);
-		ret = fattr->store(policy, buf, count);
+		if (likely(!policy_is_inactive(policy)))
+			ret = fattr->store(policy, buf, count);
 		up_write(&policy->rwsem);
 	}
 
@@ -1335,12 +1337,12 @@ static int cpufreq_online(unsigned int cpu)
 		down_write(&policy->rwsem);
 		policy->cpu = cpu;
 		policy->governor = NULL;
-		up_write(&policy->rwsem);
 	} else {
 		new_policy = true;
 		policy = cpufreq_policy_alloc(cpu);
 		if (!policy)
 			return -ENOMEM;
+		down_write(&policy->rwsem);
 	}
 
 	if (!new_policy && cpufreq_driver->online) {
@@ -1380,7 +1382,6 @@ static int cpufreq_online(unsigned int cpu)
 		cpumask_copy(policy->related_cpus, policy->cpus);
 	}
 
-	down_write(&policy->rwsem);
 	/*
 	 * affected cpus must always be the one, which are online. We aren't
 	 * managing offline cpus here.
@@ -1515,7 +1516,7 @@ static int cpufreq_online(unsigned int cpu)
 	for_each_cpu(j, policy->real_cpus)
 		remove_cpu_dev_symlink(policy, get_cpu_device(j));
 
-	up_write(&policy->rwsem);
+	cpumask_clear(policy->cpus);
 
 out_offline_policy:
 	if (cpufreq_driver->offline)
@@ -1526,6 +1527,8 @@ static int cpufreq_online(unsigned int cpu)
 		cpufreq_driver->exit(policy);
 
 out_free_policy:
+	up_write(&policy->rwsem);
+
 	cpufreq_policy_free(policy);
 	return ret;
 }