diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 48417e8..653b2d2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 
 List of the most important changes for each release.
 
+## 0.8.5
+- Prevents MPTT corruption that occurs with concurrent certificate creation
+
 ## 0.8.4
 - Adds syncable_objects model manager to use by default for all syncing operations, to allow default objects to be overridden
 
diff --git a/morango/__init__.py b/morango/__init__.py
index fa3ddd8..af46754 100644
--- a/morango/__init__.py
+++ b/morango/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "0.8.4"
+__version__ = "0.8.5"
diff --git a/morango/models/certificates.py b/morango/models/certificates.py
index d6e9371..5cef6e7 100644
--- a/morango/models/certificates.py
+++ b/morango/models/certificates.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 """
 import json
 import string
+import logging
 
 import mptt.models
 from django.core.management import call_command
@@ -24,7 +25,10 @@
 from morango.errors import NonceDoesNotExist
 from morango.errors import NonceExpired
 from morango.utils import _assert
-
+from django.db import transaction, connection
+from morango.sync.backends.utils import load_backend
+from contextlib import contextmanager
+from django.db.utils import OperationalError
 
 class Certificate(mptt.models.MPTTModel, UUIDModelMixin):
 
@@ -246,6 +250,37 @@ def verify(self, value, signature):
     def get_scope(self):
         return self.scope_definition.get_scope(self.scope_params)
 
+    @contextmanager
+    def _attempt_lock_mptt(self):
+        from morango.sync.utils import lock_partitions
+
+        DBBackend = load_backend(connection)
+
+        with transaction.atomic():
+            # Call get_root on the parent as it is already saved in the DB
+            root_id = self.parent.get_root().id if self.parent else self.id
+
+            # lock the partitions in our scope to prevent MPTT tree corruption during concurrent certificate creation
+            lock_partitions(DBBackend, sync_filter=Filter(root_id) if root_id else None)
+            yield
+
+    @contextmanager
+    def _lock_mptt(self):
+        try:
+            with self._attempt_lock_mptt():
+                yield
+        except OperationalError as e:
+            if "deadlock detected" in e.args[0]:
+                logging.error("Deadlock detected when attempting to lock MPTT partitions, retrying once more")
+                with self._attempt_lock_mptt():
+                    yield
+            else:
+                raise
+
+    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        with self._lock_mptt():
+            super().save(*args, **kwargs)
+
     def __str__(self):
         if self.scope_definition:
             return self.scope_definition.get_description(self.scope_params)
diff --git a/morango/sync/syncsession.py b/morango/sync/syncsession.py
index 0cc69e4..b3f6160 100644
--- a/morango/sync/syncsession.py
+++ b/morango/sync/syncsession.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 from requests.adapters import HTTPAdapter
 from requests.exceptions import HTTPError
 from requests.packages.urllib3.util.retry import Retry
+from django.db import transaction, connection
 
 from .session import SessionWrapper
 from morango.api.serializers import CertificateSerializer
@@ -28,9 +29,11 @@
 from morango.errors import MorangoResumeSyncError
 from morango.errors import MorangoServerDoesNotAllowNewCertPush
 from morango.models.certificates import Certificate
+from morango.models.certificates import Filter
 from morango.models.certificates import Key
 from morango.models.core import InstanceIDModel
 from morango.models.core import SyncSession
+from morango.sync.backends.utils import load_backend
 from morango.sync.context import CompositeSessionContext
 from morango.sync.context import LocalSessionContext
 from morango.sync.context import NetworkSessionContext
@@ -39,6 +42,7 @@
 from morango.sync.utils import SyncSignalGroup
 from morango.utils import CAPABILITIES
 from morango.utils import pid_exists
+from morango.sync.utils import lock_partitions
 
 if GZIP_BUFFER_POST in CAPABILITIES:
     from gzip import GzipFile
@@ -46,6 +50,7 @@
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+DBBackend = load_backend(connection)
 
 def _join_with_logical_operator(lst, operator):
     op = ") {operator} (".format(operator=operator)
@@ -351,11 +356,15 @@ def certificate_signing_request(
             cert_chain_response = self._get_certificate_chain(
                 params={"ancestors_of": parent_cert.id}
             )
-
-            # upon receiving cert chain from server, we attempt to save the chain into our records
-            Certificate.save_certificate_chain(
-                cert_chain_response.json(), expected_last_id=parent_cert.id
-            )
+            cert_chain = cert_chain_response.json()
+            with transaction.atomic():
+                lock_partitions(DBBackend, sync_filter=Filter(cert_chain[0]["id"]))
+                # check again, now that we have a lock
+                if not Certificate.objects.filter(id=parent_cert.id).exists():
+                    # upon receiving cert chain from server, we attempt to save the chain into our records
+                    Certificate.save_certificate_chain(
+                        cert_chain, expected_last_id=parent_cert.id
+                    )
 
         csr_key = Key()
         # build up data for csr