diff --git a/internal/oci/container.go b/internal/oci/container.go
index 0d3797e303f..679e4732265 100644
--- a/internal/oci/container.go
+++ b/internal/oci/container.go
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ type Container struct {
 	stopping           bool
 	stopTimeoutChan    chan time.Duration
 	stoppedChan        chan struct{}
+	stopStoppingChan   chan struct{}
 	stopLock           sync.Mutex
 }
 
@@ -113,20 +114,21 @@ func NewContainer(id, name, bundlePath, logPath string, labels, crioAnnotations,
 			},
 			ImageRef: imageRef,
 		},
-		name:            name,
-		bundlePath:      bundlePath,
-		logPath:         logPath,
-		terminal:        terminal,
-		stdin:           stdin,
-		stdinOnce:       stdinOnce,
-		runtimeHandler:  runtimeHandler,
-		crioAnnotations: crioAnnotations,
-		imageName:       imageName,
-		dir:             dir,
-		state:           state,
-		stopSignal:      stopSignal,
-		stopTimeoutChan: make(chan time.Duration, 1),
-		stoppedChan:     make(chan struct{}, 1),
+		name:             name,
+		bundlePath:       bundlePath,
+		logPath:          logPath,
+		terminal:         terminal,
+		stdin:            stdin,
+		stdinOnce:        stdinOnce,
+		runtimeHandler:   runtimeHandler,
+		crioAnnotations:  crioAnnotations,
+		imageName:        imageName,
+		dir:              dir,
+		state:            state,
+		stopSignal:       stopSignal,
+		stopTimeoutChan:  make(chan time.Duration, 1),
+		stoppedChan:      make(chan struct{}, 1),
+		stopStoppingChan: make(chan struct{}, 1),
 	}
 	return c, nil
 }
@@ -561,11 +563,14 @@ func (c *Container) SetAsStopping(timeout int64) {
 		select {
 		case c.stopTimeoutChan <- time.Duration(timeout) * time.Second:
 		case <-c.stoppedChan: // This case is to avoid waiting forever once another routine has finished.
-			return
+		case <-c.stopStoppingChan: // This case is to avoid deadlocking with SetAsNotStopping.
 		}
+		return
 	}
 	// Regardless, set the container as actively stopping.
 	c.stopping = true
+	// And reset the stopStoppingChan
+	c.stopStoppingChan = make(chan struct{}, 1)
 }
 
 // SetAsNotStopping unsets the stopping field indicating to new callers that the container
diff --git a/internal/oci/oci.go b/internal/oci/oci.go
index 638640c8eb1..dbf63cb95d6 100644
--- a/internal/oci/oci.go
+++ b/internal/oci/oci.go
@@ -126,8 +126,9 @@ func (r *Runtime) WaitContainerStateStopped(ctx context.Context, c *Container) e
 		return nil
 	}
 
-	done := make(chan error)
-	chControl := make(chan struct{})
+	done := make(chan error, 1)
+	chControl := make(chan struct{}, 1)
+	defer close(chControl)
 	go func() {
 		defer close(done)
 		for {
@@ -152,10 +153,8 @@ func (r *Runtime) WaitContainerStateStopped(ctx context.Context, c *Container) e
 	case err = <-done:
 		break
 	case <-ctx.Done():
-		close(chControl)
 		return ctx.Err()
 	case <-time.After(time.Duration(r.config.CtrStopTimeout) * time.Second):
-		close(chControl)
 		return fmt.Errorf(
 			"failed to get container stopped status: %ds timeout reached",
 			r.config.CtrStopTimeout,
diff --git a/internal/oci/runtime_oci.go b/internal/oci/runtime_oci.go
index 639c9b173ca..4d46ecf6c3a 100644
--- a/internal/oci/runtime_oci.go
+++ b/internal/oci/runtime_oci.go
@@ -692,6 +692,9 @@ func (r *runtimeOCI) StopContainer(ctx context.Context, c *Container, timeout in
 			// Otherwise, we won't actually
 			// attempt to stop when a new request comes in,
 			// even though we're not actively stopping anymore.
+			// Also, close the stopStoppingChan to tell
+			// routines waiting to change the stop timeout to give up.
+			close(c.stopStoppingChan)
 			c.SetAsNotStopping()
 		}
 	}()