diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/namei.c b/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
index d261c867404ee6936e6a0f19245078101b0fc46c..a6283f77a0c76b0e120754a63eb1e41b351c63dc 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
@@ -916,6 +916,7 @@ struct dentry *ovl_lookup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry,
 			continue;
 
 		if ((uppermetacopy || d.metacopy) && !ofs->config.metacopy) {
+			dput(this);
 			err = -EPERM;
 			pr_warn_ratelimited("refusing to follow metacopy origin for (%pd2)\n", dentry);
 			goto out_put;