diff --git a/scripts/kernel/generate-kernel-patch b/scripts/kernel/generate-kernel-patch
index 4a3c0dfd9..12374e86b 100755
--- a/scripts/kernel/generate-kernel-patch
+++ b/scripts/kernel/generate-kernel-patch
@@ -325,7 +325,8 @@ scst_07_pres="scst/src/scst_pres.h scst/src/scst_pres.c"
 scst_08_sysfs="scst/src/scst_sysfs.c \
 scst/src/scst_sysfs_test.h"
 scst_09_debug="scst/include/scst_debug.h scst/src/scst_debug.c"
-scst_10_sgv="scst/include/scst_sgv.h scst/src/scst_mem.h scst/src/scst_mem.c doc/scst_pg.sgml"
+scst_10_sgv="scst/include/scst_sgv.h scst/src/scst_mem.h scst/src/scst_mem.c \
+scst/src/scst_mem_test.h doc/scst_pg.sgml"
 scst_user="scst/include/scst_user.h scst/src/dev_handlers/scst_user_main.c \
 scst/src/dev_handlers/scst_user_test.h"
 scst_13_vdisk="scst/src/dev_handlers/scst_vdisk_main.c \
diff --git a/scst/src/kunit/lib/suites/scst_kunit_sgv.c b/scst/src/kunit/lib/suites/scst_kunit_sgv.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..709fcf1ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scst/src/kunit/lib/suites/scst_kunit_sgv.c
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#include "../../scst_kunit.h"
+#include <linux/mm.h>
+#include <linux/sched.h>
+#ifdef INSIDE_KERNEL_TREE
+#include <scst/scst.h>
+#else
+#include "scst.h"
+#endif
+#include "../../../scst_mem.h"
+#include "../../../scst_mem_test.h"
+
+static void sgv_shared_rejects_other_mm(struct kunit *test)
+{
+	struct sgv_pool *pool = kunit_kzalloc(test, sizeof(*pool), GFP_KERNEL);
+	struct mm_struct *other_mm = kunit_kzalloc(test, sizeof(*other_mm), GFP_KERNEL);
+
+	KUNIT_ASSERT_NOT_NULL(test, pool);
+	KUNIT_ASSERT_NOT_NULL(test, other_mm);
+	pool->owner_mm = other_mm;
+	kref_init(&pool->sgv_pool_ref);
+
+	/* A failed lookup must not return the original owner's reference. */
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_PTR_EQ(test, sgv_pool_get_shared(pool), NULL);
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, kref_read(&pool->sgv_pool_ref), 1);
+}
+
+static void sgv_shared_gets_same_mm(struct kunit *test)
+{
+	struct sgv_pool *pool = kunit_kzalloc(test, sizeof(*pool), GFP_KERNEL);
+
+	KUNIT_ASSERT_NOT_NULL(test, pool);
+	pool->owner_mm = current->mm;
+	kref_init(&pool->sgv_pool_ref);
+
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_PTR_EQ(test, sgv_pool_get_shared(pool), pool);
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, kref_read(&pool->sgv_pool_ref), 2);
+}
+
+static void sgv_defer_release(struct kref *ref)
+{
+	/* Keep the fixture alive to model a destructor waiting to unlink it. */
+}
+
+static void sgv_shared_rejects_destroying_pool(struct kunit *test)
+{
+	struct sgv_pool *pool = kunit_kzalloc(test, sizeof(*pool), GFP_KERNEL);
+
+	KUNIT_ASSERT_NOT_NULL(test, pool);
+	pool->owner_mm = current->mm;
+	/* Last put has reached zero; the destructor has not unlinked it yet. */
+	kref_init(&pool->sgv_pool_ref);
+	kref_put(&pool->sgv_pool_ref, sgv_defer_release);
+
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_PTR_EQ(test, sgv_pool_get_shared(pool), NULL);
+	KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, kref_read(&pool->sgv_pool_ref), 0);
+}
+
+static struct kunit_case scst_sgv_cases[] = {
+	KUNIT_CASE(sgv_shared_rejects_other_mm),
+	KUNIT_CASE(sgv_shared_gets_same_mm),
+	KUNIT_CASE(sgv_shared_rejects_destroying_pool),
+	{}
+};
+
+scst_kunit_suite(scst_sgv_suite, "LIB", "-sgv",
+		 .test_cases = scst_sgv_cases,
+);
diff --git a/scst/src/kunit/objects.mk b/scst/src/kunit/objects.mk
index 0ef838000..8358279c3 100644
--- a/scst/src/kunit/objects.mk
+++ b/scst/src/kunit/objects.mk
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ scst-kunit-scst := \
 	kunit/event/suites/scst_kunit_event_delivery.o \
 	kunit/lib/suites/scst_kunit_capacity.o \
 	kunit/lib/suites/scst_kunit_lib.o \
+	kunit/lib/suites/scst_kunit_sgv.o \
 	kunit/lib/suites/scst_kunit_write_same.o \
 	kunit/lifecycle/suites/scst_kunit_lifecycle.o \
 	kunit/lifecycle/suites/scst_kunit_blocking.o \
diff --git a/scst/src/scst_mem.c b/scst/src/scst_mem.c
index 94adc47a0..69a2d3a18 100644
--- a/scst/src/scst_mem.c
+++ b/scst/src/scst_mem.c
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #endif
 #include "scst_priv.h"
 #include "scst_mem.h"
+#include "scst_mem_test.h"
 
 #undef DEFAULT_SYMBOL_NAMESPACE
 #define DEFAULT_SYMBOL_NAMESPACE	SCST_NAMESPACE
@@ -1386,7 +1387,7 @@ static int sgv_pool_init(struct sgv_pool *pool, const char *name,
 		}
 	}
 
-	atomic_set(&pool->sgv_pool_ref, 1);
+	kref_init(&pool->sgv_pool_ref);
 	spin_lock_init(&pool->sgv_pool_lock);
 	INIT_LIST_HEAD(&pool->sorted_recycling_list);
 	for (i = 0; i < pool->max_caches; i++)
@@ -1506,6 +1507,11 @@ out:
 	TRACE_EXIT();
 }
 
+static void sgv_pool_release(struct kref *ref)
+{
+	sgv_pool_destroy(container_of(ref, struct sgv_pool, sgv_pool_ref));
+}
+
 /**
  * sgv_pool_set_allocator - set custom pages allocator
  * @pool:	the cache
@@ -1525,6 +1531,23 @@ void sgv_pool_set_allocator(struct sgv_pool *pool,
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(sgv_pool_set_allocator);
 
+/* The caller holds sgv_pools_mutex to protect the lookup result. */
+SCST_KUNIT_VISIBLE
+struct sgv_pool *sgv_pool_get_shared(struct sgv_pool *pool)
+{
+	if (pool->owner_mm != current->mm) {
+		PRINT_ERROR("Attempt of a shared use of SGV pool %s with different MM",
+			    pool->name);
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
+	/* Last put can have committed to destruction before taking the mutex. */
+	if (!kref_get_unless_zero(&pool->sgv_pool_ref))
+		return NULL;
+
+	return pool;
+}
+
 /**
  * sgv_pool_create_node - creates and initializes an SGV pool
  * @name:	the name of the SGV pool
@@ -1581,12 +1604,7 @@ struct sgv_pool *sgv_pool_create_node(const char *name, enum sgv_clustering_type
 	list_for_each_entry(tp, &sgv_pools_list, sgv_pools_list_entry) {
 		if (strcmp(tp->name, name) == 0) {
 			if (shared) {
-				if (tp->owner_mm != current->mm) {
-					PRINT_ERROR("Attempt of a shared use of SGV pool %s with different MM",
-						    name);
-					goto out_free;
-				}
-				sgv_pool_get(tp);
+				tp = sgv_pool_get_shared(tp);
 				goto out_free;
 			} else {
 				PRINT_ERROR("SGV pool %s already exists", name);
@@ -1623,9 +1641,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(sgv_pool_create_node);
  */
 void sgv_pool_get(struct sgv_pool *pool)
 {
-	atomic_inc(&pool->sgv_pool_ref);
-	TRACE_MEM("Incrementing sgv pool %p ref (new value %d)",
-		  pool, atomic_read(&pool->sgv_pool_ref));
+	kref_get(&pool->sgv_pool_ref);
+	TRACE_MEM("Incrementing sgv pool %p ref (new value %u)",
+		  pool, kref_read(&pool->sgv_pool_ref));
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(sgv_pool_get);
 
@@ -1637,10 +1655,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(sgv_pool_get);
  */
 void sgv_pool_put(struct sgv_pool *pool)
 {
-	TRACE_MEM("Decrementing sgv pool %p ref (new value %d)",
-		  pool, atomic_read(&pool->sgv_pool_ref) - 1);
-	if (atomic_dec_and_test(&pool->sgv_pool_ref))
-		sgv_pool_destroy(pool);
+	TRACE_MEM("Decrementing sgv pool %p ref (new value %u)",
+		  pool, kref_read(&pool->sgv_pool_ref) - 1);
+	kref_put(&pool->sgv_pool_ref, sgv_pool_release);
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(sgv_pool_put);
 
diff --git a/scst/src/scst_mem.h b/scst/src/scst_mem.h
index cfffb6986..fee8950b2 100644
--- a/scst/src/scst_mem.h
+++ b/scst/src/scst_mem.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  *  GNU General Public License for more details.
  */
 
+#include <linux/kref.h>
 #include <linux/scatterlist.h>
 #include <linux/workqueue.h>
 
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ struct sgv_pool {
 	atomic_t big_alloc, big_pages, big_merged;
 	atomic_t other_alloc, other_pages, other_merged;
 
-	atomic_t sgv_pool_ref;
+	struct kref sgv_pool_ref;
 
 	int max_caches;
 
diff --git a/scst/src/scst_mem_test.h b/scst/src/scst_mem_test.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f17837e46
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scst/src/scst_mem_test.h
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only */
+#ifndef SCST_MEM_TEST_H
+#define SCST_MEM_TEST_H
+
+#include "scst_test.h"
+
+#ifdef SCST_KUNIT_ENABLED
+struct sgv_pool;
+
+struct sgv_pool *sgv_pool_get_shared(struct sgv_pool *pool);
+#endif
+
+#endif /* SCST_MEM_TEST_H */