diff --git a/fs/ext4/super.c b/fs/ext4/super.c
index 7bef0a4bc518b1a57e0d3d913af3ae584cb026d8..a53a23aef5e312d0912f20e2600704cd3e3de1f2 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/super.c
@@ -2177,10 +2177,12 @@ static void ext4_orphan_cleanup(struct super_block *sb,
 	}
 
 	if (EXT4_SB(sb)->s_mount_state & EXT4_ERROR_FS) {
-		if (es->s_last_orphan)
+		/* don't clear list on RO mount w/ errors */
+		if (es->s_last_orphan && !(s_flags & MS_RDONLY)) {
 			jbd_debug(1, "Errors on filesystem, "
 				  "clearing orphan list.\n");
-		es->s_last_orphan = 0;
+			es->s_last_orphan = 0;
+		}
 		jbd_debug(1, "Skipping orphan recovery on fs with errors.\n");
 		return;
 	}