mvmvif = iwl_mvm_vif_from_mac80211(vif);
        mvmsta = iwl_mvm_sta_from_staid_protected(mvm, mvmvif->ap_sta_id);
 
-       if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!mvmsta))
-               goto done;
+       if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!mvmsta)) {
+               mutex_unlock(&mvm->mutex);
+               return;
+       }
 
        if (drop) {
                if (iwl_mvm_flush_tx_path(mvm, mvmsta->tfd_queue_msk, true))
                        IWL_ERR(mvm, "flush request fail\n");
+               mutex_unlock(&mvm->mutex);
        } else {
-               iwl_trans_wait_tx_queue_empty(mvm->trans,
-                                             mvmsta->tfd_queue_msk);
+               u32 tfd_queue_msk = mvmsta->tfd_queue_msk;
+               mutex_unlock(&mvm->mutex);
+
+               /* this can take a while, and we may need/want other operations
+                * to succeed while doing this, so do it without the mutex held
+                */
+               iwl_trans_wait_tx_queue_empty(mvm->trans, tfd_queue_msk);
        }
-done:
-       mutex_unlock(&mvm->mutex);
 }
 
 const struct ieee80211_ops iwl_mvm_hw_ops = {