diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/super.c b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
index 13a8a8617e44bc92f66a6a2e78248afc068cf6bc..76440feb79f64ee0fce36713ed4fe4264ff70f11 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ static void ovl_put_super(struct super_block *sb)
 	ovl_free_fs(ofs);
 }
 
+/* Sync real dirty inodes in upper filesystem (if it exists) */
 static int ovl_sync_fs(struct super_block *sb, int wait)
 {
 	struct ovl_fs *ofs = sb->s_fs_info;
@@ -260,14 +261,24 @@ static int ovl_sync_fs(struct super_block *sb, int wait)
 
 	if (!ofs->upper_mnt)
 		return 0;
-	upper_sb = ofs->upper_mnt->mnt_sb;
-	if (!upper_sb->s_op->sync_fs)
+
+	/*
+	 * If this is a sync(2) call or an emergency sync, all the super blocks
+	 * will be iterated, including upper_sb, so no need to do anything.
+	 *
+	 * If this is a syncfs(2) call, then we do need to call
+	 * sync_filesystem() on upper_sb, but enough if we do it when being
+	 * called with wait == 1.
+	 */
+	if (!wait)
 		return 0;
 
-	/* real inodes have already been synced by sync_filesystem(ovl_sb) */
+	upper_sb = ofs->upper_mnt->mnt_sb;
+
 	down_read(&upper_sb->s_umount);
-	ret = upper_sb->s_op->sync_fs(upper_sb, wait);
+	ret = sync_filesystem(upper_sb);
 	up_read(&upper_sb->s_umount);
+
 	return ret;
 }