diff --git a/fs/autofs4/waitq.c b/fs/autofs4/waitq.c
index 3458dbc8fff0b1b7f2b709c819fab9cd1971977c..bcb6c5265467f4306721848e7076b327f0151aa2 100644
--- a/fs/autofs4/waitq.c
+++ b/fs/autofs4/waitq.c
@@ -328,6 +328,10 @@ int autofs4_wait(struct autofs_sb_info *sbi, struct dentry *dentry,
 	if (sbi->catatonic)
 		return -ENOENT;
 
+	if (!dentry->d_inode &&
+	    (sbi->type & (AUTOFS_TYPE_DIRECT | AUTOFS_TYPE_OFFSET)))
+		return -ENOENT;
+
 	name = kmalloc(NAME_MAX + 1, GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!name)
 		return -ENOMEM;