diff --git a/pkg/volume/util/util.go b/pkg/volume/util/util.go
index e7df9538f32..f6f5a3f9960 100644
--- a/pkg/volume/util/util.go
+++ b/pkg/volume/util/util.go
@@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ const (
 	// VolumeDynamicallyCreatedByKey is the key of the annotation on PersistentVolume
 	// object created dynamically
 	VolumeDynamicallyCreatedByKey = "kubernetes.io/createdby"
+
+	// kubernetesPluginPathPrefix is the prefix of kubernetes plugin mount paths.
+	kubernetesPluginPathPrefix = "/plugins/kubernetes.io/"
 )
 
 // IsReady checks for the existence of a regular file
@@ -635,12 +638,30 @@ func FsUserFrom(pod *v1.Pod) *int64 {
 // In GCI cluster, if gci mounter is used for mounting, the container started by mounter
 // script will cause additional mounts created in the container. Since these mounts are
 // irrelevant to the original mounts, they should be not considered when checking the
-// mount references. Current solution is to filter out those mount paths that contain
-// the string of original mount path.
-// Plan to work on better approach to solve this issue.
+// mount references. The current solution is to filter out those mount paths that contain
+// the k8s plugin suffix of original mount path.
 func HasMountRefs(mountPath string, mountRefs []string) bool {
+	// A mountPath typically is like
+	//   /var/lib/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX
+	// Mount refs can look like
+	//   /home/somewhere/var/lib/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/...
+	// but if /var/lib/kubelet is mounted to a different device a ref might be like
+	//   /mnt/some-other-place/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/...
+	// Neither of the above should be counted as a mount ref as those are handled
+	// by the kubelet. What we're concerned about is a path like
+	//   /data/local/some/manual/mount
+	// As unmonting could interrupt usage from that mountpoint.
+	//
+	// So instead of looking for the entire /var/lib/... path, the plugins/kuberentes.io/
+	// suffix is trimmed off and searched for.
+	//
+	// If there isn't a /plugins/... path, the whole mountPath is used instead.
+	pathToFind := mountPath
+	if i := strings.Index(mountPath, kubernetesPluginPathPrefix); i > -1 {
+		pathToFind = mountPath[i:]
+	}
 	for _, ref := range mountRefs {
-		if !strings.Contains(ref, mountPath) {
+		if !strings.Contains(ref, pathToFind) {
 			return true
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/volume/util/util_test.go b/pkg/volume/util/util_test.go
index 0274f3cbac2..0f3d99c837e 100644
--- a/pkg/volume/util/util_test.go
+++ b/pkg/volume/util/util_test.go
@@ -260,6 +260,41 @@ func TestFsUserFrom(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestHasMountRefs(t *testing.T) {
+	testCases := map[string]struct {
+		mountPath string
+		mountRefs []string
+		expected  bool
+	}{
+		"plugin mounts only": {
+			mountPath: "/var/lib/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+			mountRefs: []string{
+				"/home/somewhere/var/lib/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+				"/var/lib/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+				"/mnt/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+				"/mnt/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+			},
+			expected: false,
+		},
+		"extra local mount": {
+			mountPath: "/var/lib/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+			mountRefs: []string{
+				"/home/somewhere/var/lib/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+				"/local/data/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+				"/mnt/kubelet/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+				"/mnt/plugins/kubernetes.io/some-plugin/mounts/volume-XXXX",
+			},
+			expected: true,
+		},
+	}
+	for name, test := range testCases {
+		actual := HasMountRefs(test.mountPath, test.mountRefs)
+		if actual != test.expected {
+			t.Errorf("for %s expected %v but got %v", name, test.expected, actual)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestMountOptionFromSpec(t *testing.T) {
 	scenarios := map[string]struct {
 		volume            *volume.Spec