diff --git a/fs/afs/cell.c b/fs/afs/cell.c
index e0fab1609f27..fbb8a43aa7cd 100644
--- a/fs/afs/cell.c
+++ b/fs/afs/cell.c
@@ -547,6 +547,8 @@ static int afs_update_cell(struct afs_cell *cell)
 		rcu_assign_pointer(cell->vl_servers, vllist);
 		cell->dns_source = vllist->source;
 		old = p;
+	} else {
+		old = vllist;
 	}
 	write_unlock(&cell->vl_servers_lock);
 	afs_put_vlserverlist(cell->net, old);