diff --git a/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h b/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
index b39ba7239bd6..0409ba34a05c 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
+++ b/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
@@ -1259,6 +1259,7 @@ static int rcu_boost_kthread(void *arg)
  * about it going away.
  */
 static void rcu_initiate_boost(struct rcu_node *rnp, unsigned long flags)
+	__releases(rnp->lock)
 {
 	struct task_struct *t;
 
@@ -1494,6 +1495,7 @@ static void rcu_prepare_kthreads(int cpu)
 #else /* #ifdef CONFIG_RCU_BOOST */
 
 static void rcu_initiate_boost(struct rcu_node *rnp, unsigned long flags)
+	__releases(rnp->lock)
 {
 	raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&rnp->lock, flags);
 }