diff --git a/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c b/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
index ea48774f6b76..d55b42b2480d 100644
--- a/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
+++ b/fs/xfs/xfs_inode.c
@@ -1301,8 +1301,19 @@ xfs_link(
 	 */
 	if (unlikely((tdp->i_diflags & XFS_DIFLAG_PROJINHERIT) &&
 		     tdp->i_projid != sip->i_projid)) {
-		error = -EXDEV;
-		goto error_return;
+		/*
+		 * Project quota setup skips special files which can
+		 * leave inodes in a PROJINHERIT directory without a
+		 * project ID set. We need to allow links to be made
+		 * to these "project-less" inodes because userspace
+		 * expects them to succeed after project ID setup,
+		 * but everything else should be rejected.
+		 */
+		if (!special_file(VFS_I(sip)->i_mode) ||
+		    sip->i_projid != 0) {
+			error = -EXDEV;
+			goto error_return;
+		}
 	}
 
 	if (!resblks) {