diff --git a/fs/ntfs3/namei.c b/fs/ntfs3/namei.c
index 084d19d78397..293c37171d97 100644
--- a/fs/ntfs3/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ntfs3/namei.c
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ static struct dentry *ntfs_lookup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry,
 	 * If the MFT record of ntfs inode is not a base record, inode->i_op can be NULL.
 	 * This causes null pointer dereference in d_splice_alias().
 	 */
-	if (!IS_ERR_OR_NULL(inode) && !inode->i_op) {
+	if (IS_ERR_OR_NULL(inode) || !inode->i_op) {
 		iput(inode);
 		inode = ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
 	}