diff --git a/drivers/vhost/vsock.c b/drivers/vhost/vsock.c
index d6ca1c7ad513..f00d2dfd72b7 100644
--- a/drivers/vhost/vsock.c
+++ b/drivers/vhost/vsock.c
@@ -629,16 +629,18 @@ static int vhost_vsock_start(struct vhost_vsock *vsock)
 	return ret;
 }
 
-static int vhost_vsock_stop(struct vhost_vsock *vsock)
+static int vhost_vsock_stop(struct vhost_vsock *vsock, bool check_owner)
 {
 	size_t i;
 	int ret;
 
 	mutex_lock(&vsock->dev.mutex);
 
-	ret = vhost_dev_check_owner(&vsock->dev);
-	if (ret)
-		goto err;
+	if (check_owner) {
+		ret = vhost_dev_check_owner(&vsock->dev);
+		if (ret)
+			goto err;
+	}
 
 	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(vsock->vqs); i++) {
 		struct vhost_virtqueue *vq = &vsock->vqs[i];
@@ -753,7 +755,7 @@ static int vhost_vsock_dev_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
 	 * inefficient.  Room for improvement here. */
 	vsock_for_each_connected_socket(vhost_vsock_reset_orphans);
 
-	vhost_vsock_stop(vsock);
+	vhost_vsock_stop(vsock, false);
 	vhost_vsock_flush(vsock);
 	vhost_dev_stop(&vsock->dev);
 
@@ -868,7 +870,7 @@ static long vhost_vsock_dev_ioctl(struct file *f, unsigned int ioctl,
 		if (start)
 			return vhost_vsock_start(vsock);
 		else
-			return vhost_vsock_stop(vsock);
+			return vhost_vsock_stop(vsock, true);
 	case VHOST_GET_FEATURES:
 		features = VHOST_VSOCK_FEATURES;
 		if (copy_to_user(argp, &features, sizeof(features)))