diff --git a/fs/ceph/dir.c b/fs/ceph/dir.c
index 7263f825d426daac2861e123c297bdac8d951c26..852ff8600ac9875a5acf896247fb92485d6a8848 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/dir.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/dir.c
@@ -506,7 +506,7 @@ int ceph_handle_snapdir(struct ceph_mds_request *req,
 			struct dentry *dentry, int err)
 {
 	struct ceph_fs_client *fsc = ceph_sb_to_client(dentry->d_sb);
-	struct inode *parent = dentry->d_parent->d_inode;
+	struct inode *parent = dentry->d_parent->d_inode; /* we hold i_mutex */
 
 	/* .snap dir? */
 	if (err == -ENOENT &&
diff --git a/fs/ceph/mds_client.c b/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
index 66a8939cc518bdd219ef6ae7df3b555f53b5604c..fee028b5332e0d802b26fdc94dab21057b41028a 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/mds_client.c
@@ -621,6 +621,12 @@ static void __unregister_request(struct ceph_mds_client *mdsc,
  */
 struct dentry *get_nonsnap_parent(struct dentry *dentry)
 {
+	/*
+	 * we don't need to worry about protecting the d_parent access
+	 * here because we never renaming inside the snapped namespace
+	 * except to resplice to another snapdir, and either the old or new
+	 * result is a valid result.
+	 */
 	while (!IS_ROOT(dentry) && ceph_snap(dentry->d_inode) != CEPH_NOSNAP)
 		dentry = dentry->d_parent;
 	return dentry;
@@ -656,7 +662,9 @@ static int __choose_mds(struct ceph_mds_client *mdsc,
 	if (req->r_inode) {
 		inode = req->r_inode;
 	} else if (req->r_dentry) {
-		struct inode *dir = req->r_dentry->d_parent->d_inode;
+		/* ignore race with rename; old or new d_parent is okay */
+		struct dentry *parent = req->r_dentry->d_parent;
+		struct inode *dir = parent->d_inode;
 
 		if (dir->i_sb != mdsc->fsc->sb) {
 			/* not this fs! */
@@ -664,8 +672,7 @@ static int __choose_mds(struct ceph_mds_client *mdsc,
 		} else if (ceph_snap(dir) != CEPH_NOSNAP) {
 			/* direct snapped/virtual snapdir requests
 			 * based on parent dir inode */
-			struct dentry *dn =
-				get_nonsnap_parent(req->r_dentry->d_parent);
+			struct dentry *dn = get_nonsnap_parent(parent);
 			inode = dn->d_inode;
 			dout("__choose_mds using nonsnap parent %p\n", inode);
 		} else if (req->r_dentry->d_inode) {