diff --git a/net/sunrpc/rpc_pipe.c b/net/sunrpc/rpc_pipe.c
index 8d63f8fd29b7e3ff0e940d7457d45203f99c56b1..20e30c6f8355dc0bc612bffb44abefee7c3536df 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/rpc_pipe.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/rpc_pipe.c
@@ -587,6 +587,8 @@ static struct dentry *__rpc_lookup_create_exclusive(struct dentry *parent,
 	struct dentry *dentry;
 
 	dentry = __rpc_lookup_create(parent, name);
+	if (IS_ERR(dentry))
+		return dentry;
 	if (dentry->d_inode == NULL)
 		return dentry;
 	dput(dentry);