diff --git a/lib/bdev/iscsi/bdev_iscsi.c b/lib/bdev/iscsi/bdev_iscsi.c
index 7b168f282..c751fa869 100644
--- a/lib/bdev/iscsi/bdev_iscsi.c
+++ b/lib/bdev/iscsi/bdev_iscsi.c
@@ -98,9 +98,10 @@ struct bdev_iscsi_conn_req {
 	char					*initiator_iqn;
 	struct iscsi_context			*context;
 	spdk_bdev_iscsi_create_cb		create_cb;
-	spdk_bdev_iscsi_create_cb		create_cb_arg;
+	void					*create_cb_arg;
 	bool					unmap_supported;
 	int					lun;
+	int					status;
 	TAILQ_ENTRY(bdev_iscsi_conn_req)	link;
 };
 
@@ -110,17 +111,12 @@ complete_conn_req(struct bdev_iscsi_conn_req *req, struct spdk_bdev *bdev,
 {
 	TAILQ_REMOVE(&g_iscsi_conn_req, req, link);
 	req->create_cb(req->create_cb_arg, bdev, status);
-	if (status) {
-		/* if the request failed and no iscsi lun was
-		 * created then we could not hand over this
-		 * memory and have to free it manually now.
-		 */
-		iscsi_destroy_context(req->context);
-		free(req->initiator_iqn);
-		free(req->bdev_name);
-		free(req->url);
-	}
-	free(req);
+
+	/*
+	 * we are still running in the context of iscsi_service()
+	 * so do not tear down its data structures here
+	 */
+	req->status = status;
 }
 
 static int
@@ -145,14 +141,29 @@ _iscsi_free_lun(void *arg)
 	free(lun);
 }
 
+static void
+_bdev_iscsi_conn_req_free(struct bdev_iscsi_conn_req *req)
+{
+
+	free(req->initiator_iqn);
+	free(req->bdev_name);
+	free(req->url);
+	/* destroy will call iscsi_disconnect() implicitly if connected */
+	iscsi_destroy_context(req->context);
+	free(req);
+}
+
 static void
 bdev_iscsi_finish(void)
 {
-	struct bdev_iscsi_conn_req *req;
+	struct bdev_iscsi_conn_req *req, *tmp;
 
-	while (!TAILQ_EMPTY(&g_iscsi_conn_req)) {
-		req = TAILQ_FIRST(&g_iscsi_conn_req);
-		complete_conn_req(req, NULL, -EINTR);
+	/* clear out pending connection requests here. We cannot
+	 * simply set the state to a non SCSI_STATUS_GOOD state as
+	 * the connection poller wont run anymore
+	 */
+	TAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(req, &g_iscsi_conn_req, link, tmp) {
+		_bdev_iscsi_conn_req_free(req);
 	}
 
 	if (g_conn_poller) {
@@ -725,8 +736,16 @@ iscsi_bdev_conn_poll(void *arg)
 				SPDK_ERRLOG("iscsi_service failed: %s\n", iscsi_get_error(context));
 			}
 		}
-	}
 
+		if (req->status != SCSI_STATUS_GOOD) {
+			/*
+			 * An error has occurred during connecting.  This req has already
+			 * been removed from the g_iscsi_conn_req list, but we needed to
+			 * wait until iscsi_service unwound before we could free the req.
+			 */
+			_bdev_iscsi_conn_req_free(req);
+		}
+	}
 	return -1;
 }
 
@@ -748,6 +767,7 @@ create_iscsi_disk(const char *bdev_name, const char *url, const char *initiator_
 		return -ENOMEM;
 	}
 
+	req->status = SCSI_STATUS_GOOD;
 	req->bdev_name = strdup(bdev_name);
 	req->url = strdup(url);
 	req->initiator_iqn = strdup(initiator_iqn);