diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
index f140e3dbfb7b..d9da5a4e9382 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
@@ -343,6 +343,9 @@ struct inode *ovl_d_select_inode(struct dentry *dentry, unsigned file_flags)
 	struct path realpath;
 	enum ovl_path_type type;
 
+	if (d_is_dir(dentry))
+		return d_backing_inode(dentry);
+
 	type = ovl_path_real(dentry, &realpath);
 	if (ovl_open_need_copy_up(file_flags, type, realpath.dentry)) {
 		err = ovl_want_write(dentry);