diff --git a/fs/sdcardfs/lookup.c b/fs/sdcardfs/lookup.c
index 83f6083e5aad..7dab5f76896b 100644
--- a/fs/sdcardfs/lookup.c
+++ b/fs/sdcardfs/lookup.c
@@ -199,7 +199,8 @@ static struct dentry *__sdcardfs_interpose(struct dentry *dentry,
 
 	ret_dentry = d_splice_alias(inode, dentry);
 	dentry = ret_dentry ?: dentry;
-	update_derived_permission_lock(dentry);
+	if (!IS_ERR(dentry))
+		update_derived_permission_lock(dentry);
 out:
 	return ret_dentry;
 }