diff --git a/fs/ext2/namei.c b/fs/ext2/namei.c
index 6524ecaebb7a6fe6910587026c5f8039b1a1f88c..e1dedb0f7873153199073e360dfbf255c13115c0 100644
--- a/fs/ext2/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ext2/namei.c
@@ -66,8 +66,16 @@ static struct dentry *ext2_lookup(struct inode * dir, struct dentry *dentry, str
 	inode = NULL;
 	if (ino) {
 		inode = ext2_iget(dir->i_sb, ino);
-		if (IS_ERR(inode))
-			return ERR_CAST(inode);
+		if (unlikely(IS_ERR(inode))) {
+			if (PTR_ERR(inode) == -ESTALE) {
+				ext2_error(dir->i_sb, __func__,
+						"deleted inode referenced: %lu",
+						ino);
+				return ERR_PTR(-EIO);
+			} else {
+				return ERR_CAST(inode);
+			}
+		}
 	}
 	return d_splice_alias(inode, dentry);
 }