diff --git a/fs/ext4/xattr.c b/fs/ext4/xattr.c
index dfc2e223bd10..aa8f26087116 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/xattr.c
@@ -118,12 +118,13 @@ static int
 ext4_expand_inode_array(struct ext4_xattr_inode_array **ea_inode_array,
 			struct inode *inode);
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_LOCKDEP
-void ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(struct inode *ea_inode)
+static inline void ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(struct inode *ea_inode,
+					      int subclass)
 {
-	lockdep_set_subclass(&ea_inode->i_rwsem, 1);
-}
+#ifdef CONFIG_LOCKDEP
+	lockdep_set_subclass(&ea_inode->i_rwsem, subclass);
 #endif
+}
 
 static __le32 ext4_xattr_block_csum(struct inode *inode,
 				    sector_t block_nr,
@@ -458,7 +459,7 @@ static int ext4_xattr_inode_iget(struct inode *parent, unsigned long ea_ino,
 		goto error;
 	}
 
-	ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(inode);
+	ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(inode, 1);
 
 	/*
 	 * Check whether this is an old Lustre-style xattr inode. Lustre
@@ -1058,8 +1059,10 @@ static int ext4_xattr_inode_update_ref(handle_t *handle, struct inode *ea_inode,
 	inode_lock(ea_inode);
 
 	ret = ext4_reserve_inode_write(handle, ea_inode, &iloc);
-	if (ret)
-		goto out;
+	if (ret) {
+		inode_unlock(ea_inode);
+		return ret;
+	}
 
 	ref_count = ext4_xattr_inode_get_ref(ea_inode);
 	ref_count += ref_change;
@@ -1074,7 +1077,9 @@ static int ext4_xattr_inode_update_ref(handle_t *handle, struct inode *ea_inode,
 				  ea_inode->i_ino, ea_inode->i_nlink);
 
 			set_nlink(ea_inode, 1);
+			inode_unlock(ea_inode);
 			ext4_orphan_del(handle, ea_inode);
+			ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(ea_inode, 1);
 		}
 	} else {
 		WARN_ONCE(ref_count < 0, "EA inode %lu ref_count=%lld",
@@ -1084,7 +1089,8 @@ static int ext4_xattr_inode_update_ref(handle_t *handle, struct inode *ea_inode,
 			WARN_ONCE(ea_inode->i_nlink != 1,
 				  "EA inode %lu i_nlink=%u",
 				  ea_inode->i_ino, ea_inode->i_nlink);
-
+			inode_unlock(ea_inode);
+			ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(ea_inode, 0);
 			clear_nlink(ea_inode);
 			ext4_orphan_add(handle, ea_inode);
 		}
@@ -1094,8 +1100,6 @@ static int ext4_xattr_inode_update_ref(handle_t *handle, struct inode *ea_inode,
 	if (ret)
 		ext4_warning_inode(ea_inode,
 				   "ext4_mark_iloc_dirty() failed ret=%d", ret);
-out:
-	inode_unlock(ea_inode);
 	return ret;
 }
 
@@ -1500,7 +1504,7 @@ static struct inode *ext4_xattr_inode_create(handle_t *handle,
 		ea_inode->i_op = &ext4_file_inode_operations;
 		ea_inode->i_fop = &ext4_file_operations;
 		ext4_set_aops(ea_inode);
-		ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(ea_inode);
+		ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(ea_inode, 1);
 		unlock_new_inode(ea_inode);
 		ext4_xattr_inode_set_ref(ea_inode, 1);
 		ext4_xattr_inode_set_hash(ea_inode, hash);
@@ -1511,6 +1515,7 @@ static struct inode *ext4_xattr_inode_create(handle_t *handle,
 			if (ext4_xattr_inode_dec_ref(handle, ea_inode))
 				ext4_warning_inode(ea_inode,
 					"cleanup dec ref error %d", err);
+			ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(ea_inode, 0);
 			iput(ea_inode);
 			return ERR_PTR(err);
 		}
@@ -1560,6 +1565,7 @@ ext4_xattr_inode_cache_find(struct inode *inode, const void *value,
 		if (!IS_ERR(ea_inode) &&
 		    !is_bad_inode(ea_inode) &&
 		    (EXT4_I(ea_inode)->i_flags & EXT4_EA_INODE_FL) &&
+		    inode->i_nlink &&
 		    i_size_read(ea_inode) == value_len &&
 		    !ext4_xattr_inode_read(ea_inode, ea_data, value_len) &&
 		    !ext4_xattr_inode_verify_hashes(ea_inode, NULL, ea_data,
diff --git a/fs/ext4/xattr.h b/fs/ext4/xattr.h
index 824faf0b15a8..32d6222ec9ec 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/xattr.h
+++ b/fs/ext4/xattr.h
@@ -218,10 +218,4 @@ static inline int ext4_init_security(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode,
 }
 #endif
 
-#ifdef CONFIG_LOCKDEP
-extern void ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(struct inode *ea_inode);
-#else
-static inline void ext4_xattr_inode_set_class(struct inode *ea_inode) { }
-#endif
-
 extern int ext4_get_inode_usage(struct inode *inode, qsize_t *usage);