diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/export.c b/fs/overlayfs/export.c
index 6fe303850c9e..ba6c7c59261a 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/export.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/export.c
@@ -485,7 +485,7 @@ static struct dentry *ovl_lookup_real_inode(struct super_block *sb,
 	if (IS_ERR_OR_NULL(this))
 		return this;
 
-	if (WARN_ON(ovl_dentry_real_at(this, layer->idx) != real)) {
+	if (ovl_dentry_real_at(this, layer->idx) != real) {
 		dput(this);
 		this = ERR_PTR(-EIO);
 	}