diff --git a/fs/ext2/namei.c b/fs/ext2/namei.c
index 3ab23de558fb..0d09d22fe708 100644
--- a/fs/ext2/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ext2/namei.c
@@ -291,7 +291,10 @@ static int ext2_unlink(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry)
 		goto out;
 
 	inode_set_ctime_to_ts(inode, inode_get_ctime(dir));
-	inode_dec_link_count(inode);
+
+	if (inode->i_nlink)
+		inode_dec_link_count(inode);
+
 	err = 0;
 out:
 	return err;