diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/params.c b/fs/overlayfs/params.c
index ddab9ea267d1..735ae0db404a 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/params.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/params.c
@@ -530,6 +530,7 @@ static int ovl_parse_param_lowerdir(const char *name, struct fs_context *fc)
 	return 0;
 
 out_put:
+	ctx->nr = nr;
 	ovl_reset_lowerdirs(ctx);
 
 out_err: