--- l/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
+++ d/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
@@ -654,10 +654,44 @@ out:
 	return err;
 }
 
+static int __ovl_create_object(struct dentry *dentry, int mode, dev_t rdev, const char *link)
+{
+	int err;
+	struct inode *inode;
+	struct ovl_cattr attr = {
+		.rdev = rdev,
+		.link = link,
+	};
+
+	err = ovl_copy_up(dentry->d_parent);
+	if (err)
+		return err;
+
+	/* Preallocate inode to be used by ovl_get_inode() */
+	err = -ENOMEM;
+	inode = ovl_new_inode(dentry->d_sb, mode, rdev);
+	if (!inode)
+		return err;
+
+	spin_lock(&inode->i_lock);
+	inode->i_state |= I_CREATING;
+	spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock);
+
+	inode_init_owner(&nop_mnt_idmap, inode, dentry->d_parent->d_inode, mode);
+	attr.mode = inode->i_mode;
+
+	err = ovl_create_or_link(dentry, inode, &attr, false);
+	/* Did we end up using the preallocated inode? */
+	if (inode != d_inode(dentry))
+		iput(inode);
+
+	return err;
+}
+
 static int ovl_create(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,
 		      struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode, bool excl)
 {
-	return ovl_create_object(dentry, (mode & 07777) | S_IFREG, 0, NULL);
+	return __ovl_create_object(dentry, (mode & 07777) | S_IFREG, 0, NULL);
 }
 
 static int ovl_mkdir(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,