diff --git a/drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c b/drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c
index 16c411cbe5b5ff1a9c8d1aac8ad504b6ee04d530..4f13907543e3de208b6f84bb476b4aab0f046c88 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c
@@ -365,7 +365,9 @@ static int ashmem_shrink(struct shrinker *s, struct shrink_control *sc)
 	if (!sc->nr_to_scan)
 		return lru_count;
 
-	mutex_lock(&ashmem_mutex);
+	if (!mutex_trylock(&ashmem_mutex))
+		return -1;
+
 	list_for_each_entry_safe(range, next, &ashmem_lru_list, lru) {
 		struct inode *inode = range->asma->file->f_dentry->d_inode;
 		loff_t start = range->pgstart * PAGE_SIZE;