diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
index 99ca9c50a88f3c0c5de415535cbf3ce5bfa1fd9c..4bd9fc287c822d0096d0abe415b36650fabe96ce 100644
--- a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
+++ b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
@@ -907,13 +907,14 @@ 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;
@@ -924,7 +925,7 @@ 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;
@@ -938,7 +939,8 @@ 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);
 	}
 
@@ -1198,12 +1200,12 @@ 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);
 	}
 
 	cpumask_copy(policy->cpus, cpumask_of(cpu));
@@ -1221,8 +1223,6 @@ static int cpufreq_online(unsigned int cpu)
 	if (ret)
 		goto out_exit_policy;
 
-	down_write(&policy->rwsem);
-
 	if (new_policy) {
 		/* related_cpus should at least include policy->cpus. */
 		cpumask_copy(policy->related_cpus, policy->cpus);
@@ -1332,13 +1332,15 @@ 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_exit_policy:
 	if (cpufreq_driver->exit)
 		cpufreq_driver->exit(policy);
 
 out_free_policy:
+	up_write(&policy->rwsem);
+
 	cpufreq_policy_free(policy);
 	return ret;
 }