diff --git a/fs/btrfs/inode.c b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
index 8de23355f6cf66d8c97531157301ec7e8384d61a..8a036ed234ad44ae5dd3a43692f3de2452261c35 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
@@ -6255,8 +6255,10 @@ static int btrfs_mkdir(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode)
 
 out_fail:
 	btrfs_end_transaction(trans, root);
-	if (drop_on_err)
+	if (drop_on_err) {
+		inode_dec_link_count(inode);
 		iput(inode);
+	}
 	btrfs_balance_delayed_items(root);
 	btrfs_btree_balance_dirty(root);
 	return err;