diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
index 16955a307dcd9edb18389c181835a9a418dca3ef..d0e5cde27702224466905eea473709abf3e31525 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
@@ -137,8 +137,7 @@ int ovl_cleanup_and_whiteout(struct ovl_fs *ofs, struct inode *dir,
 	goto out;
 }
 
-static int ovl_mkdir_real(struct inode *dir, struct dentry **newdentry,
-			  umode_t mode)
+int ovl_mkdir_real(struct inode *dir, struct dentry **newdentry, umode_t mode)
 {
 	int err;
 	struct dentry *d, *dentry = *newdentry;
diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h b/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
index e43dc68bd1b54e69352a44dc40a3965e7803162e..898de3bf884e468fedc9408e697d1eebfb8ffa49 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
@@ -519,6 +519,7 @@ struct ovl_cattr {
 
 #define OVL_CATTR(m) (&(struct ovl_cattr) { .mode = (m) })
 
+int ovl_mkdir_real(struct inode *dir, struct dentry **newdentry, umode_t mode);
 struct dentry *ovl_create_real(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *newdentry,
 			       struct ovl_cattr *attr);
 int ovl_cleanup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry);
diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/super.c b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
index 77f08ac04d1f3cedab8204c7643df422354e9d01..45c596dfe3a360b5ac3abc8ee3ae3ecf29a70343 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
@@ -743,10 +743,14 @@ static struct dentry *ovl_workdir_create(struct ovl_fs *ofs,
 			goto retry;
 		}
 
-		work = ovl_create_real(dir, work, OVL_CATTR(attr.ia_mode));
-		err = PTR_ERR(work);
-		if (IS_ERR(work))
-			goto out_err;
+		err = ovl_mkdir_real(dir, &work, attr.ia_mode);
+		if (err)
+			goto out_dput;
+
+		/* Weird filesystem returning with hashed negative (kernfs)? */
+		err = -EINVAL;
+		if (d_really_is_negative(work))
+			goto out_dput;
 
 		/*
 		 * Try to remove POSIX ACL xattrs from workdir.  We are good if: