diff --git a/block/blk-mq-sched.c b/block/blk-mq-sched.c
index f6e3b10b52eb1096bb9d26bcda9d2859ebaf0c93..74c6bb871f7e6e299d7180720f2de05f0460b5af 100644
--- a/block/blk-mq-sched.c
+++ b/block/blk-mq-sched.c
@@ -414,6 +414,14 @@ void blk_mq_sched_insert_requests(struct blk_mq_hw_ctx *hctx,
 				  struct list_head *list, bool run_queue_async)
 {
 	struct elevator_queue *e;
+	struct request_queue *q = hctx->queue;
+
+	/*
+	 * blk_mq_sched_insert_requests() is called from flush plug
+	 * context only, and hold one usage counter to prevent queue
+	 * from being released.
+	 */
+	percpu_ref_get(&q->q_usage_counter);
 
 	e = hctx->queue->elevator;
 	if (e && e->type->ops.insert_requests)
@@ -427,12 +435,14 @@ void blk_mq_sched_insert_requests(struct blk_mq_hw_ctx *hctx,
 		if (!hctx->dispatch_busy && !e && !run_queue_async) {
 			blk_mq_try_issue_list_directly(hctx, list);
 			if (list_empty(list))
-				return;
+				goto out;
 		}
 		blk_mq_insert_requests(hctx, ctx, list);
 	}
 
 	blk_mq_run_hw_queue(hctx, run_queue_async);
+ out:
+	percpu_ref_put(&q->q_usage_counter);
 }
 
 static void blk_mq_sched_free_tags(struct blk_mq_tag_set *set,