diff --git a/backends/iommufd.c b/backends/iommufd.c
index 393c0d9a37..1ef683c7b0 100644
--- a/backends/iommufd.c
+++ b/backends/iommufd.c
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ static void iommufd_backend_init(Object *obj)
     be->fd = -1;
     be->users = 0;
     be->owned = true;
-    qemu_mutex_init(&be->lock);
 }
 
 static void iommufd_backend_finalize(Object *obj)
@@ -52,10 +51,8 @@ static void iommufd_backend_set_fd(Object *obj, const char *str, Error **errp)
         error_prepend(errp, "Could not parse remote object fd %s:", str);
         return;
     }
-    qemu_mutex_lock(&be->lock);
     be->fd = fd;
     be->owned = false;
-    qemu_mutex_unlock(&be->lock);
     trace_iommu_backend_set_fd(be->fd);
 }
 
@@ -79,7 +76,6 @@ int iommufd_backend_connect(IOMMUFDBackend *be, Error **errp)
 {
     int fd, ret = 0;
 
-    qemu_mutex_lock(&be->lock);
     if (be->owned && !be->users) {
         fd = qemu_open_old("/dev/iommu", O_RDWR);
         if (fd < 0) {
@@ -93,13 +89,11 @@ int iommufd_backend_connect(IOMMUFDBackend *be, Error **errp)
 out:
     trace_iommufd_backend_connect(be->fd, be->owned,
                                   be->users, ret);
-    qemu_mutex_unlock(&be->lock);
     return ret;
 }
 
 void iommufd_backend_disconnect(IOMMUFDBackend *be)
 {
-    qemu_mutex_lock(&be->lock);
     if (!be->users) {
         goto out;
     }
@@ -110,7 +104,6 @@ void iommufd_backend_disconnect(IOMMUFDBackend *be)
     }
 out:
     trace_iommufd_backend_disconnect(be->fd, be->users);
-    qemu_mutex_unlock(&be->lock);
 }
 
 int iommufd_backend_alloc_ioas(IOMMUFDBackend *be, uint32_t *ioas_id,
diff --git a/include/sysemu/iommufd.h b/include/sysemu/iommufd.h
index 9c5524b0ed..9af27ebd6c 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/iommufd.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/iommufd.h
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 #define SYSEMU_IOMMUFD_H
 
 #include "qom/object.h"
-#include "qemu/thread.h"
 #include "exec/hwaddr.h"
 #include "exec/cpu-common.h"
 
@@ -19,7 +18,6 @@ struct IOMMUFDBackend {
     /*< protected >*/
     int fd;            /* /dev/iommu file descriptor */
     bool owned;        /* is the /dev/iommu opened internally */
-    QemuMutex lock;
     uint32_t users;
 
     /*< public >*/