diff --git a/sycl/include/CL/sycl/detail/pi.h b/sycl/include/CL/sycl/detail/pi.h
index c27be2edb35e8..b7c15f4aa288e 100644
--- a/sycl/include/CL/sycl/detail/pi.h
+++ b/sycl/include/CL/sycl/detail/pi.h
@@ -1635,7 +1635,9 @@ __SYCL_EXPORT pi_result piextUSMSharedAlloc(void **result_ptr,
                                             pi_usm_mem_properties *properties,
                                             size_t size, pi_uint32 alignment);
 
-/// Frees allocated USM memory
+/// Indicates that the allocated USM memory is no longer needed on the runtime
+/// side. The actual freeing of the memory may be done in a blocking or deferred
+/// manner, e.g. to avoid issues with indirect memory access from kernels.
 ///
 /// \param context is the pi_context of the allocation
 /// \param ptr is the memory to be freed
diff --git a/sycl/plugins/opencl/pi_opencl.cpp b/sycl/plugins/opencl/pi_opencl.cpp
index e259ac5e942cf..9474b20fdf863 100644
--- a/sycl/plugins/opencl/pi_opencl.cpp
+++ b/sycl/plugins/opencl/pi_opencl.cpp
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ CONSTFIX char clHostMemAllocName[] = "clHostMemAllocINTEL";
 CONSTFIX char clDeviceMemAllocName[] = "clDeviceMemAllocINTEL";
 CONSTFIX char clSharedMemAllocName[] = "clSharedMemAllocINTEL";
 CONSTFIX char clMemFreeName[] = "clMemFreeINTEL";
+CONSTFIX char clMemBlockingFreeName[] = "clMemBlockingFreeINTEL";
 CONSTFIX char clCreateBufferWithPropertiesName[] =
     "clCreateBufferWithPropertiesINTEL";
 CONSTFIX char clSetKernelArgMemPointerName[] = "clSetKernelArgMemPointerINTEL";
@@ -968,11 +969,56 @@ pi_result piextUSMSharedAlloc(void **result_ptr, pi_context context,
 /// \param context is the pi_context of the allocation
 /// \param ptr is the memory to be freed
 pi_result piextUSMFree(pi_context context, void *ptr) {
+  // Use a blocking free to avoid issues with indirect access from kernels that
+  // might be still running.
+  clMemBlockingFreeINTEL_fn FuncPtr = nullptr;
+
+  // We need to use clMemBlockingFreeINTEL here, however, due to a bug in OpenCL
+  // CPU runtime this call fails with CL_INVALID_EVENT on CPU devices in certain
+  // cases. As a temporary workaround, this function replicates caching of
+  // extension function pointers in getExtFuncFromContext, while choosing
+  // clMemBlockingFreeINTEL for GPU and clMemFreeINTEL for other device types.
+  // TODO remove this workaround when the new OpenCL CPU runtime version is
+  // uplifted in CI.
+  static_assert(
+      std::is_same<clMemBlockingFreeINTEL_fn, clMemFreeINTEL_fn>::value);
+  cl_uint deviceCount;
+  cl_int ret_err =
+      clGetContextInfo(cast<cl_context>(context), CL_CONTEXT_NUM_DEVICES,
+                       sizeof(cl_uint), &deviceCount, nullptr);
+
+  if (ret_err != CL_SUCCESS || deviceCount < 1) {
+    return PI_INVALID_CONTEXT;
+  }
+
+  std::vector<cl_device_id> devicesInCtx(deviceCount);
+  ret_err = clGetContextInfo(cast<cl_context>(context), CL_CONTEXT_DEVICES,
+                             deviceCount * sizeof(cl_device_id),
+                             devicesInCtx.data(), nullptr);
+
+  if (ret_err != CL_SUCCESS) {
+    return PI_INVALID_CONTEXT;
+  }
+
+  bool useBlockingFree = true;
+  for (const cl_device_id &dev : devicesInCtx) {
+    cl_device_type devType = CL_DEVICE_TYPE_DEFAULT;
+    ret_err = clGetDeviceInfo(dev, CL_DEVICE_TYPE, sizeof(cl_device_type),
+                              &devType, nullptr);
+    if (ret_err != CL_SUCCESS) {
+      return PI_INVALID_DEVICE;
+    }
+    useBlockingFree &= devType == CL_DEVICE_TYPE_GPU;
+  }
 
-  clMemFreeINTEL_fn FuncPtr = nullptr;
   pi_result RetVal = PI_INVALID_OPERATION;
-  RetVal = getExtFuncFromContext<clMemFreeName, clMemFreeINTEL_fn>(context,
-                                                                   &FuncPtr);
+  if (useBlockingFree)
+    RetVal =
+        getExtFuncFromContext<clMemBlockingFreeName, clMemBlockingFreeINTEL_fn>(
+            context, &FuncPtr);
+  else
+    RetVal = getExtFuncFromContext<clMemFreeName, clMemFreeINTEL_fn>(context,
+                                                                     &FuncPtr);
 
   if (FuncPtr) {
     RetVal = cast<pi_result>(FuncPtr(cast<cl_context>(context), ptr));