diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel/ipsec.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel/ipsec.c
index ca92e518be76..21857474ad83 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel/ipsec.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/en_accel/ipsec.c
@@ -768,9 +768,12 @@ static int mlx5e_xfrm_add_state(struct xfrm_state *x,
 				   MLX5_IPSEC_RESCHED);
 
 	if (x->xso.type == XFRM_DEV_OFFLOAD_PACKET &&
-	    x->props.mode == XFRM_MODE_TUNNEL)
-		xa_set_mark(&ipsec->sadb, sa_entry->ipsec_obj_id,
-			    MLX5E_IPSEC_TUNNEL_SA);
+	    x->props.mode == XFRM_MODE_TUNNEL) {
+		xa_lock_bh(&ipsec->sadb);
+		__xa_set_mark(&ipsec->sadb, sa_entry->ipsec_obj_id,
+			      MLX5E_IPSEC_TUNNEL_SA);
+		xa_unlock_bh(&ipsec->sadb);
+	}
 
 out:
 	x->xso.offload_handle = (unsigned long)sa_entry;
@@ -797,7 +800,6 @@ static int mlx5e_xfrm_add_state(struct xfrm_state *x,
 static void mlx5e_xfrm_del_state(struct xfrm_state *x)
 {
 	struct mlx5e_ipsec_sa_entry *sa_entry = to_ipsec_sa_entry(x);
-	struct mlx5_accel_esp_xfrm_attrs *attrs = &sa_entry->attrs;
 	struct mlx5e_ipsec *ipsec = sa_entry->ipsec;
 	struct mlx5e_ipsec_sa_entry *old;
 
@@ -806,12 +808,6 @@ static void mlx5e_xfrm_del_state(struct xfrm_state *x)
 
 	old = xa_erase_bh(&ipsec->sadb, sa_entry->ipsec_obj_id);
 	WARN_ON(old != sa_entry);
-
-	if (attrs->mode == XFRM_MODE_TUNNEL &&
-	    attrs->type == XFRM_DEV_OFFLOAD_PACKET)
-		/* Make sure that no ARP requests are running in parallel */
-		flush_workqueue(ipsec->wq);
-
 }
 
 static void mlx5e_xfrm_free_state(struct xfrm_state *x)