diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/irq.c b/arch/x86/kernel/irq.c
index 88b36648..6233de0 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/irq.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/irq.c
@@ -216,8 +216,23 @@
 	unsigned vector = ~regs->orig_ax;
 	unsigned irq;
 
+	/*
+	 * NB: Unlike exception entries, IRQ entries do not reliably
+	 * handle context tracking in the low-level entry code.  This is
+	 * because syscall entries execute briefly with IRQs on before
+	 * updating context tracking state, so we can take an IRQ from
+	 * kernel mode with CONTEXT_USER.  The low-level entry code only
+	 * updates the context if we came from user mode, so we won't
+	 * switch to CONTEXT_KERNEL.  We'll fix that once the syscall
+	 * code is cleaned up enough that we can cleanly defer enabling
+	 * IRQs.
+	 */
+
 	entering_irq();
 
+	/* entering_irq() tells RCU that we're not quiescent.  Check it. */
+	rcu_lockdep_assert(rcu_is_watching(), "IRQ failed to wake up RCU");
+
 	irq = __this_cpu_read(vector_irq[vector]);
 
 	if (!handle_irq(irq, regs)) {