diff --git a/fs/dcache.c b/fs/dcache.c
index be2bea834bf459563e2d03e1e0fa8dec97b49c70..e99c6f529ba8bbd307bd5024cb723056b74afe17 100644
--- a/fs/dcache.c
+++ b/fs/dcache.c
@@ -532,10 +532,12 @@ static inline struct dentry *lock_parent(struct dentry *dentry)
 	struct dentry *parent = dentry->d_parent;
 	if (IS_ROOT(dentry))
 		return NULL;
+	if (unlikely((int)dentry->d_lockref.count < 0))
+		return NULL;
 	if (likely(spin_trylock(&parent->d_lock)))
 		return parent;
-	spin_unlock(&dentry->d_lock);
 	rcu_read_lock();
+	spin_unlock(&dentry->d_lock);
 again:
 	parent = ACCESS_ONCE(dentry->d_parent);
 	spin_lock(&parent->d_lock);