diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/cluster/nodemanager.c b/fs/ocfs2/cluster/nodemanager.c
index ced4fe6d3b59..91f8fcc6193f 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/cluster/nodemanager.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/cluster/nodemanager.c
@@ -627,8 +627,11 @@ static void o2nm_node_group_drop_item(struct config_group *group,
 
 	write_lock(&cluster->cl_nodes_lock);
 
-	/* XXX sloppy */
-	if (node->nd_ipv4_address)
+	/*
+	 * 0.0.0.0 is a valid configured address, so nd_ipv4_address does
+	 * not tell us whether nd_ip_node was published in the IP tree.
+	 */
+	if (test_bit(O2NM_NODE_ATTR_ADDRESS, &node->nd_set_attributes))
 		rb_erase(&node->nd_ip_node, &cluster->cl_node_ip_tree);
 
 	/* nd_num might be 0 if the node number hasn't been set.. */