diff --git a/kernel/locking/rwbase_rt.c b/kernel/locking/rwbase_rt.c
index 48fbbccdce3f..88191f6e252c 100644
--- a/kernel/locking/rwbase_rt.c
+++ b/kernel/locking/rwbase_rt.c
@@ -41,6 +41,12 @@
  * The risk of writer starvation is there, but the pathological use cases
  * which trigger it are not necessarily the typical RT workloads.
  *
+ * Fast-path orderings:
+ * The lock/unlock of readers can run in fast paths: lock and unlock are only
+ * atomic ops, and there is no inner lock to provide ACQUIRE and RELEASE
+ * semantics of rwbase_rt. Atomic ops should thus provide _acquire()
+ * and _release() (or stronger).
+ *
  * Common code shared between RT rw_semaphore and rwlock
  */
 
@@ -53,6 +59,7 @@ static __always_inline int rwbase_read_trylock(struct rwbase_rt *rwb)
 	 * set.
 	 */
 	for (r = atomic_read(&rwb->readers); r < 0;) {
+		/* Fully-ordered if cmpxchg() succeeds, provides ACQUIRE */
 		if (likely(atomic_try_cmpxchg(&rwb->readers, &r, r + 1)))
 			return 1;
 	}
@@ -162,6 +169,8 @@ static __always_inline void rwbase_read_unlock(struct rwbase_rt *rwb,
 	/*
 	 * rwb->readers can only hit 0 when a writer is waiting for the
 	 * active readers to leave the critical section.
+	 *
+	 * dec_and_test() is fully ordered, provides RELEASE.
 	 */
 	if (unlikely(atomic_dec_and_test(&rwb->readers)))
 		__rwbase_read_unlock(rwb, state);
@@ -172,7 +181,11 @@ static inline void __rwbase_write_unlock(struct rwbase_rt *rwb, int bias,
 {
 	struct rt_mutex_base *rtm = &rwb->rtmutex;
 
-	atomic_add(READER_BIAS - bias, &rwb->readers);
+	/*
+	 * _release() is needed in case that reader is in fast path, pairing
+	 * with atomic_try_cmpxchg() in rwbase_read_trylock(), provides RELEASE
+	 */
+	(void)atomic_add_return_release(READER_BIAS - bias, &rwb->readers);
 	raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&rtm->wait_lock, flags);
 	rwbase_rtmutex_unlock(rtm);
 }
@@ -201,7 +214,11 @@ static inline bool __rwbase_write_trylock(struct rwbase_rt *rwb)
 	/* Can do without CAS because we're serialized by wait_lock. */
 	lockdep_assert_held(&rwb->rtmutex.wait_lock);
 
-	if (!atomic_read(&rwb->readers)) {
+	/*
+	 * _acquire is needed in case the reader is in the fast path, pairing
+	 * with rwbase_read_unlock(), provides ACQUIRE.
+	 */
+	if (!atomic_read_acquire(&rwb->readers)) {
 		atomic_set(&rwb->readers, WRITER_BIAS);
 		return 1;
 	}