diff --git a/fs/nfsd/nfs4recover.c b/fs/nfsd/nfs4recover.c
index e9d07704680e7f5e99adad09c643f24e16442ee1..81b8565d3837a58137c1c589905e294f0bbb2ccd 100644
--- a/fs/nfsd/nfs4recover.c
+++ b/fs/nfsd/nfs4recover.c
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ nfsd4_clear_clid_dir(struct dentry *dir, struct dentry *dentry)
 	 * any regular files anyway, just in case the directory was created by
 	 * a kernel from the future.... */
 	nfsd4_list_rec_dir(dentry, nfsd4_remove_clid_file);
-	mutex_lock(&dir->d_inode->i_mutex);
+	mutex_lock_nested(&dir->d_inode->i_mutex, I_MUTEX_PARENT);
 	status = vfs_rmdir(dir->d_inode, dentry);
 	mutex_unlock(&dir->d_inode->i_mutex);
 	return status;