diff --git a/fs/smb/client/misc.c b/fs/smb/client/misc.c
index 46e1382e8e04..d4db3f91a91f 100644
--- a/fs/smb/client/misc.c
+++ b/fs/smb/client/misc.c
@@ -891,8 +891,14 @@ static void tcon_super_cb(struct super_block *sb, void *arg)
 	     t1->ses->dfs_root_ses == t2->ses->dfs_root_ses) &&
 	    t1->ses->server == t2->ses->server &&
 	    t2->origin_fullpath &&
-	    dfs_src_pathname_equal(t2->origin_fullpath, t1->origin_fullpath))
+	    dfs_src_pathname_equal(t2->origin_fullpath, t1->origin_fullpath)) {
+		/*
+		 * Take the active reference while iterate_supers_type() still
+		 * holds s_umount shared.
+		 */
+		cifs_sb_active(sb);
 		sd->sb = sb;
+	}
 	spin_unlock(&t2->tc_lock);
 }
 
@@ -909,15 +915,8 @@ static struct super_block *__cifs_get_super(void (*f)(struct super_block *, void
 
 	for (; *fs_type; fs_type++) {
 		iterate_supers_type(*fs_type, f, &sd);
-		if (sd.sb) {
-			/*
-			 * Grab an active reference in order to prevent automounts (DFS links)
-			 * of expiring and then freeing up our cifs superblock pointer while
-			 * we're doing failover.
-			 */
-			cifs_sb_active(sd.sb);
+		if (sd.sb)
 			return sd.sb;
-		}
 	}
 	pr_warn_once("%s: could not find dfs superblock\n", __func__);
 	return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);