diff --git a/kernel/cred.c b/kernel/cred.c
index e1dbe9eef800b8be745650d095334df6be4ab433..62af1816c2352eaa9238887ef567a0b62ab5426f 100644
--- a/kernel/cred.c
+++ b/kernel/cred.c
@@ -398,6 +398,8 @@ struct cred *prepare_usermodehelper_creds(void)
 
 error:
 	put_cred(new);
+	return NULL;
+
 free_tgcred:
 #ifdef CONFIG_KEYS
 	kfree(tgcred);
@@ -791,8 +793,6 @@ bool creds_are_invalid(const struct cred *cred)
 {
 	if (cred->magic != CRED_MAGIC)
 		return true;
-	if (atomic_read(&cred->usage) < atomic_read(&cred->subscribers))
-		return true;
 #ifdef CONFIG_SECURITY_SELINUX
 	if (selinux_is_enabled()) {
 		if ((unsigned long) cred->security < PAGE_SIZE)
diff --git a/security/inode.c b/security/inode.c
index c3a793881d04f0c578049f986ce98cb778d71895..1c812e874504ef90e1b8748e28d6d9e73d6a5912 100644
--- a/security/inode.c
+++ b/security/inode.c
@@ -161,13 +161,13 @@ static int create_by_name(const char *name, mode_t mode,
 
 	mutex_lock(&parent->d_inode->i_mutex);
 	*dentry = lookup_one_len(name, parent, strlen(name));
-	if (!IS_ERR(dentry)) {
+	if (!IS_ERR(*dentry)) {
 		if ((mode & S_IFMT) == S_IFDIR)
 			error = mkdir(parent->d_inode, *dentry, mode);
 		else
 			error = create(parent->d_inode, *dentry, mode);
 	} else
-		error = PTR_ERR(dentry);
+		error = PTR_ERR(*dentry);
 	mutex_unlock(&parent->d_inode->i_mutex);
 
 	return error;