diff --git a/fs/f2fs/dir.c b/fs/f2fs/dir.c
index d635c58cf5a3..89fc5a943569 100644
--- a/fs/f2fs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/f2fs/dir.c
@@ -736,12 +736,12 @@ int f2fs_add_regular_entry(struct inode *dir, const struct f2fs_filename *fname,
 	f2fs_wait_on_page_writeback(dentry_page, DATA, true, true);
 
 	if (inode) {
-		f2fs_down_write(&F2FS_I(inode)->i_sem);
 		page = f2fs_init_inode_metadata(inode, dir, fname, NULL);
 		if (IS_ERR(page)) {
 			err = PTR_ERR(page);
 			goto fail;
 		}
+		f2fs_down_write(&F2FS_I(inode)->i_sem);
 	}
 
 	make_dentry_ptr_block(NULL, &d, dentry_blk);