diff --git a/core/includes/config.inc b/core/includes/config.inc
index fe1cd79..9439bf8 100644
--- a/core/includes/config.inc
+++ b/core/includes/config.inc
@@ -109,8 +109,8 @@ function config_sync() {
   }
 
   try {
-    config_sync_invoke_sync_hooks($config_changes);
-    config_sync_save_changes($config_changes);
+    $remaining_changes = config_sync_invoke_sync_hooks($config_changes);
+    config_sync_save_changes($remaining_changes);
     // Flush all caches and reset static variables after a successful import.
     drupal_flush_all_caches();
   }
@@ -131,9 +131,9 @@ function config_sync() {
  *   An array of changes to be written.
  */
 function config_sync_save_changes(array $config_changes) {
-  foreach (array('new', 'changed', 'deleted') as $type) {
-    foreach ($config_changes[$type] as $name) {
-      if ($type == 'deleted') {
+  foreach (array('delete', 'create', 'change') as $op) {
+    foreach ($config_changes[$op] as $name) {
+      if ($op == 'delete') {
         config($name)->delete();
       }
       else {
@@ -154,9 +154,6 @@ function config_sync_save_changes(array $config_changes) {
  *   An array of changes to be loaded.
  */
 function config_sync_invoke_sync_hooks(array $config_changes) {
-  // @todo Lock writes to all stores to prevent other/unintended config
-  //   changes from happening during the import.
-
   $target_storage = new DrupalConfig(new DatabaseStorage(NULL));
   $source_storage = new DrupalConfig(new FileStorage(NULL));
 
@@ -166,11 +163,30 @@ function config_sync_invoke_sync_hooks(array $config_changes) {
   // supposed to change the configuration that is to be imported.
   module_invoke_all('config_sync_validate', $config_changes, $target_storage, $source_storage);
 
-  // Allow modules to react to the configuration changes.
-  // Note: module_invoke_all() can only be used as long as it does not allow
-  // implementations to take $config_changes by reference, since they are not
-  // supposed to change the configuration that is to be imported.
-  module_invoke_all('config_sync', $config_changes, $target_storage, $source_storage);
+  // Allow modules to take over configuration change operations for
+  // higher-level configuration data.
+  // First pass deleted, then new, and lastly changed configuration, in order to
+  // handle dependencies correctly.
+  $remaining_changes = $config_changes;
+  foreach (array('delete', 'create', 'change') as $op) {
+    foreach ($remaining_changes[$op] as $key => $name) {
+      // Extract owner from configuration object name.
+      $module = strtok($name, '.');
+      // Check whether the module implements Attempt to pass 
+      $handled_by_module = FALSE;
+      if (module_hook($module, 'config_sync')) {
+        $old_config = new DrupalConfig(new DatabaseStorage($name));
+        $new_config = new DrupalConfig(new FileStorage($name));
+        // @todo Passing $name is obsolete as soon as there is a proper ConfigObject.
+        $handled_by_module = module_invoke($module, 'config_sync', $op, $name, $new_config, $old_config);
+      }
+      if (!empty($handled_by_module)) {
+        unset($remaining_changes[$op][$key]);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  return $remaining_changes;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -212,21 +228,21 @@ function config_sync_get_changes() {
   $disk_config_names = FileStorage::getNamesWithPrefix();
   $active_config_names = DatabaseStorage::getNamesWithPrefix();
   $config_changes = array(
-    'new' => array_diff($disk_config_names, $active_config_names),
-    'changed' => array(),
-    'deleted' => array_diff($active_config_names, $disk_config_names),
+    'create' => array_diff($disk_config_names, $active_config_names),
+    'change' => array(),
+    'delete' => array_diff($active_config_names, $disk_config_names),
   );
   foreach (array_intersect($disk_config_names, $active_config_names) as $name) {
     $active_config = config($name);
     $file_config = new DrupalConfig(new FileStorage($name));
     if ($active_config->get() != $file_config->get()) {
-      $config_changes['changed'][] = $name;
+      $config_changes['change'][] = $name;
     }
   }
 
   // Do not trigger subsequent synchronization operations if there are no
   // changes in either category.
-  if (empty($config_changes['new']) && empty($config_changes['changed']) && empty($config_changes['deleted'])) {
+  if (empty($config_changes['create']) && empty($config_changes['change']) && empty($config_changes['delete'])) {
     return FALSE;
   }
 
diff --git a/core/modules/image/image.module b/core/modules/image/image.module
index c159a47..767768b 100644
--- a/core/modules/image/image.module
+++ b/core/modules/image/image.module
@@ -497,40 +497,30 @@ function image_path_flush($path) {
 /**
  * Implements hook_config_sync().
  */
-function image_config_sync($config_changes, $target_storage, $source_storage) {
-  foreach ($config_changes['new'] as $file_name) {
-    if (strpos($file_name, 'image.style.') === 0) {
-      $style = $source_storage->load($file_name)->get();
-      $style['is_new'] = TRUE;
-      module_invoke_all('image_style_save', $style);
-      image_style_flush($style);
-    }
+function image_config_sync($op, $name, $new_config, $old_config) {
+  // Only image styles require custom handling. Any other module settings can be
+  // synchronized directly.
+  if (strpos($name, 'image.style.') !== 0) {
+    return FALSE;
   }
-  foreach ($config_changes['changed'] as $file_name) {
-    if (strpos($file_name, 'image.style.') === 0) {
-      $style = $source_storage->load($file_name)->get();
-      $style['is_new'] = FALSE;
-      module_invoke_all('image_style_save', $style);
-      image_style_flush($style);
-    }
+
+  if ($op == 'delete') {
+    // @todo image_style_delete() supports the notion of a "replacement style"
+    //   to be used by other modules instead of the deleted style. Good idea.
+    //   But squeezing that into a "delete" operation is the worst idea ever.
+    //   Regardless of Image module insanity, add a 'replaced' stack to
+    //   config_sync()? And how can that work? If an 'old_ID' key would be a
+    //   standard, wouldn't this belong into 'changed' instead?
+    $style = $old_config->get();
+    return image_style_delete($style);
   }
-  foreach ($config_changes['deleted'] as $file_name) {
-    if (strpos($file_name, 'image.style.') === 0) {
-      // The style has been deleted, so read the previous configuration from the
-      // old storage.
-      $style = $target_storage->load($file_name)->get();
-      image_style_flush($style);
-
-      // @todo image_style_delete() supports the notion of a "replacement style"
-      //   to be used by other modules instead of the deleted style. Good idea.
-      //   But squeezing that into a "delete" operation is the worst idea ever.
-      //   Regardless of Image module insanity, add a 'replaced' stack to
-      //   config_sync()? And how can that work? If an 'old_ID' key would be a
-      //   standard, wouldn't this belong into 'changed' instead?
-      $style['old_name'] = $style['name'];
-      $style['name'] = '';
-      module_invoke_all('image_style_delete', $style);
-    }
+  if ($op == 'new') {
+    $style = $new_config->get();
+    return image_style_save($style);
+  }
+  if ($op == 'change') {
+    $style = $new_config->get();
+    return image_style_save($style);
   }
 }