diff --git a/kernel/sched/ext.c b/kernel/sched/ext.c
index 6eae3b69bf6e..74344a43ccf1 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/ext.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/ext.c
@@ -862,7 +862,8 @@ static DEFINE_MUTEX(scx_ops_enable_mutex);
 DEFINE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(__scx_ops_enabled);
 DEFINE_STATIC_PERCPU_RWSEM(scx_fork_rwsem);
 static atomic_t scx_ops_enable_state_var = ATOMIC_INIT(SCX_OPS_DISABLED);
-static atomic_t scx_ops_bypass_depth = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
+static int scx_ops_bypass_depth;
+static DEFINE_RAW_SPINLOCK(__scx_ops_bypass_lock);
 static bool scx_ops_init_task_enabled;
 static bool scx_switching_all;
 DEFINE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(__scx_switched_all);
@@ -4298,18 +4299,20 @@ bool task_should_scx(struct task_struct *p)
  */
 static void scx_ops_bypass(bool bypass)
 {
-	int depth, cpu;
+	int cpu;
+	unsigned long flags;
 
+	raw_spin_lock_irqsave(&__scx_ops_bypass_lock, flags);
 	if (bypass) {
-		depth = atomic_inc_return(&scx_ops_bypass_depth);
-		WARN_ON_ONCE(depth <= 0);
-		if (depth != 1)
-			return;
+		scx_ops_bypass_depth++;
+		WARN_ON_ONCE(scx_ops_bypass_depth <= 0);
+		if (scx_ops_bypass_depth != 1)
+			goto unlock;
 	} else {
-		depth = atomic_dec_return(&scx_ops_bypass_depth);
-		WARN_ON_ONCE(depth < 0);
-		if (depth != 0)
-			return;
+		scx_ops_bypass_depth--;
+		WARN_ON_ONCE(scx_ops_bypass_depth < 0);
+		if (scx_ops_bypass_depth != 0)
+			goto unlock;
 	}
 
 	/*
@@ -4326,7 +4329,7 @@ static void scx_ops_bypass(bool bypass)
 		struct rq_flags rf;
 		struct task_struct *p, *n;
 
-		rq_lock_irqsave(rq, &rf);
+		rq_lock(rq, &rf);
 
 		if (bypass) {
 			WARN_ON_ONCE(rq->scx.flags & SCX_RQ_BYPASSING);
@@ -4362,11 +4365,13 @@ static void scx_ops_bypass(bool bypass)
 			sched_enq_and_set_task(&ctx);
 		}
 
-		rq_unlock_irqrestore(rq, &rf);
+		rq_unlock(rq, &rf);
 
 		/* resched to restore ticks and idle state */
 		resched_cpu(cpu);
 	}
+unlock:
+	raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&__scx_ops_bypass_lock, flags);
 }
 
 static void free_exit_info(struct scx_exit_info *ei)