diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
index 1fefb2b8960e..2f4125399896 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
@@ -137,8 +137,7 @@ int ovl_cleanup_and_whiteout(struct ovl_fs *ofs, struct inode *dir,
 	goto out;
 }
 
-static int ovl_mkdir_real(struct inode *dir, struct dentry **newdentry,
-			  umode_t mode)
+int ovl_mkdir_real(struct inode *dir, struct dentry **newdentry, umode_t mode)
 {
 	int err;
 	struct dentry *d, *dentry = *newdentry;
diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h b/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
index 3894f3347955..2cd5741c873b 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/overlayfs.h
@@ -570,6 +570,7 @@ struct ovl_cattr {
 
 #define OVL_CATTR(m) (&(struct ovl_cattr) { .mode = (m) })
 
+int ovl_mkdir_real(struct inode *dir, struct dentry **newdentry, umode_t mode);
 struct dentry *ovl_create_real(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *newdentry,
 			       struct ovl_cattr *attr);
 int ovl_cleanup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry);
diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/super.c b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
index 178daa5e82c9..265181c110ae 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
@@ -787,10 +787,14 @@ static struct dentry *ovl_workdir_create(struct ovl_fs *ofs,
 			goto retry;
 		}
 
-		work = ovl_create_real(dir, work, OVL_CATTR(attr.ia_mode));
-		err = PTR_ERR(work);
-		if (IS_ERR(work))
-			goto out_err;
+		err = ovl_mkdir_real(dir, &work, attr.ia_mode);
+		if (err)
+			goto out_dput;
+
+		/* Weird filesystem returning with hashed negative (kernfs)? */
+		err = -EINVAL;
+		if (d_really_is_negative(work))
+			goto out_dput;
 
 		/*
 		 * Try to remove POSIX ACL xattrs from workdir.  We are good if: