diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_drv.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_drv.c
index 37b8ad3e30d80440aea9ea2654a7a99696b50a57..2ed2d919beaeaf841c531e1fc0b1d2794cceb15d 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_drv.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_drv.c
@@ -63,6 +63,15 @@ module_param_named(debug, drm_debug, int, 0600);
 static DEFINE_SPINLOCK(drm_minor_lock);
 static struct idr drm_minors_idr;
 
+/*
+ * If the drm core fails to init for whatever reason,
+ * we should prevent any drivers from registering with it.
+ * It's best to check this at drm_dev_init(), as some drivers
+ * prefer to embed struct drm_device into their own device
+ * structure and call drm_dev_init() themselves.
+ */
+static bool drm_core_init_complete = false;
+
 static struct dentry *drm_debugfs_root;
 
 #define DRM_PRINTK_FMT "[" DRM_NAME ":%s]%s %pV"
@@ -484,6 +493,11 @@ int drm_dev_init(struct drm_device *dev,
 {
 	int ret;
 
+	if (!drm_core_init_complete) {
+		DRM_ERROR("DRM core is not initialized\n");
+		return -ENODEV;
+	}
+
 	kref_init(&dev->ref);
 	dev->dev = parent;
 	dev->driver = driver;
@@ -966,6 +980,8 @@ static int __init drm_core_init(void)
 	if (ret < 0)
 		goto error;
 
+	drm_core_init_complete = true;
+
 	DRM_DEBUG("Initialized\n");
 	return 0;