diff --git a/fs/tracefs/event_inode.c b/fs/tracefs/event_inode.c
index 110e8a272189..9d9c7dc3114b 100644
--- a/fs/tracefs/event_inode.c
+++ b/fs/tracefs/event_inode.c
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ static struct dentry *eventfs_root_lookup(struct inode *dir,
 	struct dentry *result = NULL;
 
 	ti = get_tracefs(dir);
-	if (!(ti->flags & TRACEFS_EVENT_INODE))
+	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!(ti->flags & TRACEFS_EVENT_INODE)))
 		return ERR_PTR(-EIO);
 
 	mutex_lock(&eventfs_mutex);
@@ -495,7 +495,8 @@ static struct dentry *eventfs_root_lookup(struct inode *dir,
 	list_for_each_entry(ei_child, &ei->children, list) {
 		if (strcmp(ei_child->name, name) != 0)
 			continue;
-		if (ei_child->is_freed)
+		/* A child is freed and removed from the list at the same time */
+		if (WARN_ON_ONCE(ei_child->is_freed))
 			goto out;
 		result = lookup_dir_entry(dentry, ei, ei_child);
 		goto out;