diff --git a/fs/btrfs/xattr.c b/fs/btrfs/xattr.c
index e9d384055494a6f17ddf9ee99f31766926a8c4dd..aef6bb3c5f5c82a77a1d5eeaef0d65a6661d7367 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/xattr.c
@@ -122,6 +122,16 @@ static int do_setxattr(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 		 */
 		if (!value)
 			goto out;
+	} else {
+		di = btrfs_lookup_xattr(NULL, root, path, btrfs_ino(inode),
+					name, name_len, 0);
+		if (IS_ERR(di)) {
+			ret = PTR_ERR(di);
+			goto out;
+		}
+		if (!di && !value)
+			goto out;
+		btrfs_release_path(path);
 	}
 
 again: