diff --git a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
index 5d780ff5a10a..16214dfe78c5 100644
--- a/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
+++ b/drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
@@ -875,11 +875,18 @@ static ssize_t store(struct kobject *kobj, struct attribute *attr,
 
 	down_write(&policy->rwsem);
 
+	/* Updating inactive policies is invalid, so avoid doing that. */
+	if (unlikely(policy_is_inactive(policy))) {
+		ret = -EBUSY;
+		goto unlock_policy_rwsem;
+	}
+
 	if (fattr->store)
 		ret = fattr->store(policy, buf, count);
 	else
 		ret = -EIO;
 
+unlock_policy_rwsem:
 	up_write(&policy->rwsem);
 
 	up_read(&cpufreq_rwsem);
@@ -1610,6 +1617,10 @@ static unsigned int __cpufreq_get(struct cpufreq_policy *policy)
 
 	ret_freq = cpufreq_driver->get(policy->cpu);
 
+	/* Updating inactive policies is invalid, so avoid doing that. */
+	if (unlikely(policy_is_inactive(policy)))
+		return ret_freq;
+
 	if (ret_freq && policy->cur &&
 		!(cpufreq_driver->flags & CPUFREQ_CONST_LOOPS)) {
 		/* verify no discrepancy between actual and