diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss.cpp b/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss.cpp
index 6939ac115..90d7b681e 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss.cpp
@@ -119,6 +119,8 @@ private:
 		return static_cast<CamssCameraData *>(camera->_d());
 	}
 
+	bool acquireDevice(Camera *camera) override;
+	void releaseDevice(Camera *camera) override;
 	int allocateBuffers(Camera *camera);
 	void freeBuffers(Camera *camera);
 	static int validateConfigMatchesV4L2DeviceFormat(const StreamConfiguration &cfg,
@@ -293,6 +295,7 @@ CameraConfiguration::Status CamssCameraConfiguration::validate()
 PipelineHandlerCamss::PipelineHandlerCamss(CameraManager *manager)
 	: PipelineHandler(manager), csi_()
 {
+	lockOnAcquire_ = false;
 }
 
 std::unique_ptr<CameraConfiguration>
@@ -419,6 +422,20 @@ void PipelineHandlerCamss::freeBuffers(Camera *camera)
 	data->isp_->freeBuffers();
 }
 
+bool PipelineHandlerCamss::acquireDevice(Camera *camera)
+{
+	CamssCameraData *data = cameraData(camera);
+
+	return data->csi_->acquireDevice();
+}
+
+void PipelineHandlerCamss::releaseDevice(Camera *camera)
+{
+	CamssCameraData *data = cameraData(camera);
+
+	data->csi_->releaseDevice();
+}
+
 int PipelineHandlerCamss::start(Camera *camera, [[maybe_unused]] const ControlList *controls)
 {
 	CamssCameraData *data = cameraData(camera);
diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss_csi.cpp b/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss_csi.cpp
index b7191a8e9..327196992 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss_csi.cpp
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss_csi.cpp
@@ -268,6 +268,12 @@ int CamssCsiCamera::configure(const StreamConfiguration &cfg, const Transform &t
 	V4L2SubdeviceFormat sensorFormat;
 	int ret;
 
+	for (auto &link : links_) {
+		ret = link.sinkSubdev->entity()->disableLinks();
+		if (ret)
+			return ret;
+	}
+
 	sensorFormat = getSensorFormat(cfg.size, cfg.pixelFormat);
 	/* This updates sensorFormat with the actual established format */
 	ret = sensor_->setFormat(&sensorFormat, transform);
@@ -308,6 +314,24 @@ int CamssCsiCamera::exportBuffers(unsigned int count,
 	return output_->exportBuffers(count, buffers);
 }
 
+bool CamssCsiCamera::acquireDevice()
+{
+	for (auto &link : links_) {
+		if (!link.sinkSubdev->lock()) {
+			releaseDevice();
+			return false;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return true;
+}
+
+void CamssCsiCamera::releaseDevice()
+{
+	for (auto &link : links_)
+		link.sinkSubdev->unlock();
+}
+
 int CamssCsiCamera::start()
 {
 	int ret = output_->exportBuffers(bufferCount_, &buffers_);
@@ -427,18 +451,6 @@ CamssCsi::Cameras CamssCsi::match(PipelineHandler *pipe, DeviceEnumerator *enume
 	if (!camssMediaDev_)
 		return {};
 
-	/*
-	 * Disable all links that are enabled to start with a clean state,
-	 * CamssCsiCamera::configure() enables links as necessary.
-	 * \todo instead only disable links on used entities, to allow
-	 * 2 separate libcamera instances to drive 2 different sensors.
-	 * This will also require changes to PipelineHandler::acquire() to
-	 * allow a more fine grained version of that locking a list of
-	 * subdevs associated with a Camera instead of the mediactl node.
-	 */
-	if (camssMediaDev_->disableLinks())
-		return {};
-
 	getEntities(phys_, "msm_csiphy%d", kMaxCsiPhys);
 	getEntities(csids_, "msm_csid%d", kMaxCsiDecoders);
 	/* Only RDI0 is used for now */
diff --git a/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss_csi.h b/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss_csi.h
index 4b1b0f83b..cc853b889 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss_csi.h
+++ b/src/libcamera/pipeline/camss/camss_csi.h
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ public:
 	PixelFormat mbusCodeToPixelFormat(unsigned int code) const;
 	unsigned int PixelFormatToMbusCode(const PixelFormat &format) const;
 
+	bool acquireDevice();
+	void releaseDevice();
+
 	int start();
 	void stop();