diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/iwl-drv.c b/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/iwl-drv.c
index 41ae4fae4b8a..c4e50f204630 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/iwl-drv.c
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/iwl-drv.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 OR BSD-3-Clause
 /*
- * Copyright (C) 2005-2014, 2018-2021 Intel Corporation
+ * Copyright (C) 2005-2014, 2018-2023 Intel Corporation
  * Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Intel Mobile Communications GmbH
  * Copyright (C) 2016-2017 Intel Deutschland GmbH
  */
@@ -1415,6 +1415,9 @@ _iwl_op_mode_start(struct iwl_drv *drv, struct iwlwifi_opmode_table *op)
 	struct iwl_op_mode *op_mode = NULL;
 	int retry, max_retry = !!iwlwifi_mod_params.fw_restart * IWL_MAX_INIT_RETRY;
 
+	/* also protects start/stop from racing against each other */
+	lockdep_assert_held(&iwlwifi_opmode_table_mtx);
+
 	for (retry = 0; retry <= max_retry; retry++) {
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUGFS
@@ -1445,6 +1448,9 @@ _iwl_op_mode_start(struct iwl_drv *drv, struct iwlwifi_opmode_table *op)
 
 static void _iwl_op_mode_stop(struct iwl_drv *drv)
 {
+	/* also protects start/stop from racing against each other */
+	lockdep_assert_held(&iwlwifi_opmode_table_mtx);
+
 	/* op_mode can be NULL if its start failed */
 	if (drv->op_mode) {
 		iwl_op_mode_stop(drv->op_mode);
@@ -1728,11 +1734,6 @@ static void iwl_req_fw_callback(const struct firmware *ucode_raw, void *context)
 	}
 	mutex_unlock(&iwlwifi_opmode_table_mtx);
 
-	/*
-	 * Complete the firmware request last so that
-	 * a driver unbind (stop) doesn't run while we
-	 * are doing the start() above.
-	 */
 	complete(&drv->request_firmware_complete);
 
 	/*
@@ -1837,11 +1838,12 @@ void iwl_drv_stop(struct iwl_drv *drv)
 {
 	wait_for_completion(&drv->request_firmware_complete);
 
+	mutex_lock(&iwlwifi_opmode_table_mtx);
+
 	_iwl_op_mode_stop(drv);
 
 	iwl_dealloc_ucode(drv);
 
-	mutex_lock(&iwlwifi_opmode_table_mtx);
 	/*
 	 * List is empty (this item wasn't added)
 	 * when firmware loading failed -- in that