diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/super.c b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
index bd0a3f9039d2..18f56d463572 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
@@ -621,16 +621,21 @@ static int ovl_check_rename_whiteout(struct ovl_fs *ofs)
 
 static struct dentry *ovl_lookup_or_create(struct ovl_fs *ofs,
 					   struct dentry *parent,
-					   const char *name, umode_t mode)
+					   const char *name, bool is_dir)
 {
 	struct dentry *child;
 
 	child = ovl_start_creating_upper(ofs, parent, &QSTR(name));
 	if (!IS_ERR(child)) {
-		if (!child->d_inode)
+		if (!child->d_inode) {
 			child = ovl_create_real(ofs, parent, child,
 						&QSTR(name),
-						OVL_CATTR(mode));
+						OVL_CATTR(is_dir ? S_IFDIR :
+								   S_IFREG));
+		} else if (is_dir && !d_can_lookup(child)) {
+			end_creating(child);
+			child = ERR_PTR(-ENOTDIR);
+		}
 		end_creating_keep(child);
 	}
 	dput(parent);
@@ -652,7 +657,7 @@ static int ovl_create_volatile_dirty(struct ovl_fs *ofs)
 	const char *const *name = volatile_path;
 
 	for (ctr = ARRAY_SIZE(volatile_path); ctr; ctr--, name++) {
-		d = ovl_lookup_or_create(ofs, d, *name, ctr > 1 ? S_IFDIR : S_IFREG);
+		d = ovl_lookup_or_create(ofs, d, *name, ctr > 1);
 		if (IS_ERR(d))
 			return PTR_ERR(d);
 	}