diff --git a/security/inode.c b/security/inode.c
index c3a793881d04f0c578049f986ce98cb778d71895..1c812e874504ef90e1b8748e28d6d9e73d6a5912 100644
--- a/security/inode.c
+++ b/security/inode.c
@@ -161,13 +161,13 @@ static int create_by_name(const char *name, mode_t mode,
 
 	mutex_lock(&parent->d_inode->i_mutex);
 	*dentry = lookup_one_len(name, parent, strlen(name));
-	if (!IS_ERR(dentry)) {
+	if (!IS_ERR(*dentry)) {
 		if ((mode & S_IFMT) == S_IFDIR)
 			error = mkdir(parent->d_inode, *dentry, mode);
 		else
 			error = create(parent->d_inode, *dentry, mode);
 	} else
-		error = PTR_ERR(dentry);
+		error = PTR_ERR(*dentry);
 	mutex_unlock(&parent->d_inode->i_mutex);
 
 	return error;