diff --git a/fs/configfs/dir.c b/fs/configfs/dir.c
index 362b6ff9b908..e84483a0836d 100644
--- a/fs/configfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/configfs/dir.c
@@ -486,6 +486,9 @@ static struct dentry * configfs_lookup(struct inode *dir,
 
 			inode = configfs_create(dentry, mode);
 			if (IS_ERR(inode)) {
+				spin_lock(&configfs_dirent_lock);
+				sd->s_dentry = NULL;
+				spin_unlock(&configfs_dirent_lock);
 				configfs_put(sd);
 				return ERR_CAST(inode);
 			}