diff --git a/sys/fs/cuse/cuse.c b/sys/fs/cuse/cuse.c
index 578bf3eda74f..2fc38dda3da6 100644
--- a/sys/fs/cuse/cuse.c
+++ b/sys/fs/cuse/cuse.c
@@ -699,12 +699,38 @@ cuse_server_unref(struct cuse_server *pcs)
 	free(pcs, M_CUSE);
 }
 
+static int
+cuse_server_do_close(struct cuse_server *pcs)
+{
+	int retval;
+
+	cuse_lock();
+	cuse_server_is_closing(pcs);
+	/* final client wakeup, if any */
+	cuse_server_wakeup_all_client_locked(pcs);
+
+	knlist_clear(&pcs->selinfo.si_note, 1);
+
+	retval = pcs->refs;
+	cuse_unlock();
+
+	return (retval);
+}
+
 static void
 cuse_server_free(void *arg)
 {
 	struct cuse_server *pcs = arg;
 
-	/* drop refcount */
+	/*
+	 * The final server unref should be done by the server thread
+	 * to prevent deadlock in the client cdevpriv destructor,
+	 * which cannot destroy itself.
+	 */
+	while (cuse_server_do_close(pcs) != 1)
+		pause("W", hz);
+
+	/* drop final refcount */
 	cuse_server_unref(pcs);
 }
 
@@ -746,21 +772,10 @@ static int
 cuse_server_close(struct cdev *dev, int fflag, int devtype, struct thread *td)
 {
 	struct cuse_server *pcs;
-	int error;
 
-	error = cuse_server_get(&pcs);
-	if (error != 0)
-		goto done;
+	if (cuse_server_get(&pcs) == 0)
+		cuse_server_do_close(pcs);
 
-	cuse_lock();
-	cuse_server_is_closing(pcs);
-	/* final client wakeup, if any */
-	cuse_server_wakeup_all_client_locked(pcs);
-
-	knlist_clear(&pcs->selinfo.si_note, 1);
-	cuse_unlock();
-
-done:
 	return (0);
 }