diff --git a/include/linux/sunrpc/auth.h b/include/linux/sunrpc/auth.h
index 2c97a3933ef902d3e77502112ac9a696841ef7ee..a7fc8f5a2dad88c104b2cd5acd7d420775e9e8ef 100644
--- a/include/linux/sunrpc/auth.h
+++ b/include/linux/sunrpc/auth.h
@@ -206,11 +206,11 @@ bool			rpcauth_cred_key_to_expire(struct rpc_auth *, struct rpc_cred *);
 char *			rpcauth_stringify_acceptor(struct rpc_cred *);
 
 static inline
-struct rpc_cred *	get_rpccred(struct rpc_cred *cred)
+struct rpc_cred *get_rpccred(struct rpc_cred *cred)
 {
-	if (cred != NULL)
-		atomic_inc(&cred->cr_count);
-	return cred;
+	if (cred != NULL && atomic_inc_not_zero(&cred->cr_count))
+		return cred;
+	return NULL;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -226,9 +226,7 @@ struct rpc_cred *	get_rpccred(struct rpc_cred *cred)
 static inline struct rpc_cred *
 get_rpccred_rcu(struct rpc_cred *cred)
 {
-	if (atomic_inc_not_zero(&cred->cr_count))
-		return cred;
-	return NULL;
+	return get_rpccred(cred);
 }
 
 #endif /* __KERNEL__ */
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/auth.c b/net/sunrpc/auth.c
index c1576b1109746f4b842fb0bafc5c9584dc27b768..77748e572686c76ebaaa907a0b231005aa038139 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/auth.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/auth.c
@@ -588,19 +588,15 @@ rpcauth_lookup_credcache(struct rpc_auth *auth, struct auth_cred * acred,
 		if (!entry->cr_ops->crmatch(acred, entry, flags))
 			continue;
 		if (flags & RPCAUTH_LOOKUP_RCU) {
-			if (test_bit(RPCAUTH_CRED_HASHED, &entry->cr_flags) &&
-			    !test_bit(RPCAUTH_CRED_NEW, &entry->cr_flags))
-				cred = entry;
+			if (test_bit(RPCAUTH_CRED_NEW, &entry->cr_flags) ||
+			    atomic_read(&entry->cr_count) == 0)
+				continue;
+			cred = entry;
 			break;
 		}
-		spin_lock(&cache->lock);
-		if (test_bit(RPCAUTH_CRED_HASHED, &entry->cr_flags) == 0) {
-			spin_unlock(&cache->lock);
-			continue;
-		}
 		cred = get_rpccred(entry);
-		spin_unlock(&cache->lock);
-		break;
+		if (cred)
+			break;
 	}
 	rcu_read_unlock();
 
@@ -621,7 +617,8 @@ rpcauth_lookup_credcache(struct rpc_auth *auth, struct auth_cred * acred,
 		if (!entry->cr_ops->crmatch(acred, entry, flags))
 			continue;
 		cred = get_rpccred(entry);
-		break;
+		if (cred)
+			break;
 	}
 	if (cred == NULL) {
 		cred = new;