diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
index 041db9c6621ca5f462d36f1278db1802e78337a7..0598c169ce419fc33b32ffae88f46ac394be6a9a 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ int ovl_permission(struct inode *inode, int mask)
 	realinode = d_inode_rcu(realdentry);
 	if (!realinode) {
 		WARN_ON(!(mask & MAY_NOT_BLOCK));
-		return -ENOENT;
+		return -ECHILD;
 	}
 
 	/*