diff --git a/fs/smb/server/vfs.c b/fs/smb/server/vfs.c
index cd1dbca0cffb..18c0a7c6b41b 100644
--- a/fs/smb/server/vfs.c
+++ b/fs/smb/server/vfs.c
@@ -1140,7 +1140,7 @@ int __ksmbd_vfs_kern_path(struct ksmbd_work *work, char *filepath,
 
 retry:
 	err = ksmbd_vfs_path_lookup(share_conf, filepath, flags, path, for_remove);
-	if (!err || !caseless)
+	if (!err || err != -ENOENT || !caseless)
 		return err;
 
 	path_len = strlen(filepath);