diff --git a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
index 3ec04787a737..fa5cdd538b63 100644
--- a/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
+++ b/drivers/i2c/i2c-core-base.c
@@ -1817,6 +1817,14 @@ void i2c_del_adapter(struct i2c_adapter *adap)
 
 	i2c_acpi_remove_space_handler(adap);
 
+	/*
+	 * Remove new_device/delete_device sysfs attrs early to prevent
+	 * new client registrations via userspace while we're tearing down.
+	 * kernfs will wait for any in-flight writes to complete.
+	 */
+	device_remove_file(&adap->dev, &dev_attr_new_device);
+	device_remove_file(&adap->dev, &dev_attr_delete_device);
+
 	i2c_deregister_clients(adap);
 
 	/* device name is gone after device_unregister */
@@ -1826,8 +1834,6 @@ void i2c_del_adapter(struct i2c_adapter *adap)
 
 	i2c_host_notify_irq_teardown(adap);
 
-	debugfs_remove_recursive(adap->debugfs);
-
 	/* wait until all references to the device are gone
 	 *
 	 * FIXME: This is old code and should ideally be replaced by an
@@ -1839,6 +1845,8 @@ void i2c_del_adapter(struct i2c_adapter *adap)
 	device_unregister(&adap->dev);
 	wait_for_completion(&adap->dev_released);
 
+	debugfs_remove_recursive(adap->debugfs);
+
 	/* free bus id */
 	mutex_lock(&core_lock);
 	idr_remove(&i2c_adapter_idr, adap->nr);