diff --git a/include/linux/rculist.h b/include/linux/rculist.h
index 3dc1e58865f7..14dfa6008467 100644
--- a/include/linux/rculist.h
+++ b/include/linux/rculist.h
@@ -191,7 +191,10 @@ static inline void hlist_del_init_rcu(struct hlist_node *n)
  * @old : the element to be replaced
  * @new : the new element to insert
  *
- * The @old entry will be replaced with the @new entry atomically.
+ * The @old entry will be replaced with the @new entry atomically from
+ * the perspective of concurrent readers.  It is the caller's responsibility
+ * to synchronize with concurrent updaters, if any.
+ *
  * Note: @old should not be empty.
  */
 static inline void list_replace_rcu(struct list_head *old,
@@ -519,7 +522,9 @@ static inline void hlist_del_rcu(struct hlist_node *n)
  * @old : the element to be replaced
  * @new : the new element to insert
  *
- * The @old entry will be replaced with the @new entry atomically.
+ * The @old entry will be replaced with the @new entry atomically from
+ * the perspective of concurrent readers.  It is the caller's responsibility
+ * to synchronize with concurrent updaters, if any.
  */
 static inline void hlist_replace_rcu(struct hlist_node *old,
 					struct hlist_node *new)