diff --git a/app/vhost/vhost.c b/app/vhost/vhost.c
index f0f5055a3..41f0510a4 100644
--- a/app/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/app/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -105,8 +105,6 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 		save_pid(g_pid_path);
 	}
 
-	opts.shutdown_cb = spdk_vhost_shutdown_cb;
-
 	/* Blocks until the application is exiting */
 	rc = spdk_app_start(&opts, spdk_vhost_startup, (void *)g_socket_path, NULL);
 
diff --git a/include/spdk/vhost.h b/include/spdk/vhost.h
index 3f59d9ba1..60c3170fc 100644
--- a/include/spdk/vhost.h
+++ b/include/spdk/vhost.h
@@ -47,8 +47,10 @@
 extern "C" {
 #endif
 
+typedef void (*spdk_vhost_fini_cb)(void);
+
 int spdk_vhost_init(void);
-void spdk_vhost_fini(void);
+void spdk_vhost_fini(spdk_vhost_fini_cb fini_cb);
 
 /**
  * Init vhost application.  This is called once by SPDK app layer.
diff --git a/lib/event/subsystems/vhost/vhost.c b/lib/event/subsystems/vhost/vhost.c
index d8f6824f3..192ae8c03 100644
--- a/lib/event/subsystems/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/event/subsystems/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -47,11 +47,16 @@ spdk_vhost_subsystem_init(void)
 	spdk_subsystem_init_next(rc);
 }
 
+static void
+spdk_vhost_subsystem_fini_done(void)
+{
+	spdk_subsystem_fini_next();
+}
+
 static void
 spdk_vhost_subsystem_fini(void)
 {
-	spdk_vhost_fini();
-	spdk_subsystem_fini_next();
+	spdk_vhost_fini(spdk_vhost_subsystem_fini_done);
 }
 
 SPDK_SUBSYSTEM_REGISTER(vhost, spdk_vhost_subsystem_init, spdk_vhost_subsystem_fini, NULL)
diff --git a/lib/vhost/vhost.c b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
index 3b2089092..167450f9d 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/vhost.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/vhost.c
@@ -1125,6 +1125,12 @@ out:
 	return rc;
 }
 
+static void
+spdk_vhost_kill_cb(void)
+{
+	spdk_app_stop(0);
+}
+
 void
 spdk_vhost_startup(void *arg1, void *arg2)
 {
@@ -1159,13 +1165,7 @@ spdk_vhost_startup(void *arg1, void *arg2)
 	return;
 
 out:
-	spdk_vhost_shutdown_cb();
-}
-
-static void
-session_app_stop(void *arg1, void *arg2)
-{
-	spdk_app_stop(0);
+	spdk_vhost_fini(spdk_vhost_kill_cb);
 }
 
 static void *
@@ -1188,26 +1188,6 @@ session_shutdown(void *arg)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
-/*
- * When we receive a INT signal. Execute shutdown in separate thread to avoid deadlock.
- */
-void
-spdk_vhost_shutdown_cb(void)
-{
-	pthread_t tid;
-	int rc;
-	struct spdk_event *vhost_app_stop;
-
-	vhost_app_stop = spdk_event_allocate(spdk_env_get_current_core(), session_app_stop, NULL, NULL);
-
-	rc = pthread_create(&tid, NULL, &session_shutdown, vhost_app_stop);
-	if (rc < 0) {
-		SPDK_ERRLOG("Failed to start session shutdown thread (%d): %s\n", rc, spdk_strerror(rc));
-		abort();
-	}
-	pthread_detach(tid);
-}
-
 void
 spdk_vhost_dump_config_json(struct spdk_vhost_dev *vdev,
 			    struct spdk_json_write_ctx *w)
@@ -1357,10 +1337,34 @@ spdk_vhost_init(void)
 	return 0;
 }
 
-void
-spdk_vhost_fini(void)
+static void
+_spdk_vhost_fini(void *arg1, void *arg2)
 {
+	spdk_vhost_fini_cb fini_cb = arg1;
+
 	free(g_num_ctrlrs);
+	fini_cb();
+}
+
+void
+spdk_vhost_fini(spdk_vhost_fini_cb fini_cb)
+{
+	pthread_t tid;
+	int rc;
+	struct spdk_event *fini_ev;
+
+	fini_ev = spdk_event_allocate(spdk_env_get_current_core(), _spdk_vhost_fini, fini_cb, NULL);
+
+	/* rte_vhost API for removing sockets is not asynchronous. Since it may call SPDK
+	 * ops for stopping a device or removing a connection, we need to call it from
+	 * a separate thread to avoid deadlock.
+	 */
+	rc = pthread_create(&tid, NULL, &session_shutdown, fini_ev);
+	if (rc < 0) {
+		SPDK_ERRLOG("Failed to start session shutdown thread (%d): %s\n", rc, spdk_strerror(rc));
+		abort();
+	}
+	pthread_detach(tid);
 }
 
 SPDK_LOG_REGISTER_COMPONENT("vhost_ring", SPDK_LOG_VHOST_RING)