diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
index 795ab65ccdf5e0cd84ab7a3c78219dec39499de5..52f6de5d40a9211baa29a39fc2a178598a86a92f 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
@@ -904,6 +904,13 @@ static int ovl_rename2(struct inode *olddir, struct dentry *old,
 	if (!overwrite && new_is_dir && !old_opaque && new_opaque)
 		ovl_remove_opaque(newdentry);
 
+	/*
+	 * Old dentry now lives in different location. Dentries in
+	 * lowerstack are stale. We cannot drop them here because
+	 * access to them is lockless. This could be only pure upper
+	 * or opaque directory - numlower is zero. Or upper non-dir
+	 * entry - its pureness is tracked by flag opaque.
+	 */
 	if (old_opaque != new_opaque) {
 		ovl_dentry_set_opaque(old, new_opaque);
 		if (!overwrite)
diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/super.c b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
index 588a4b51ab0ca80027f43257d5274d7bf8761755..619ad4b016d209adcb2b6649d6f654049c860b07 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
@@ -76,12 +76,14 @@ enum ovl_path_type ovl_path_type(struct dentry *dentry)
 	if (oe->__upperdentry) {
 		type = __OVL_PATH_UPPER;
 
-		if (oe->numlower) {
-			if (S_ISDIR(dentry->d_inode->i_mode))
-				type |= __OVL_PATH_MERGE;
-		} else if (!oe->opaque) {
+		/*
+		 * Non-dir dentry can hold lower dentry from previous
+		 * location. Its purity depends only on opaque flag.
+		 */
+		if (oe->numlower && S_ISDIR(dentry->d_inode->i_mode))
+			type |= __OVL_PATH_MERGE;
+		else if (!oe->opaque)
 			type |= __OVL_PATH_PURE;
-		}
 	} else {
 		if (oe->numlower > 1)
 			type |= __OVL_PATH_MERGE;