diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/namei.c b/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
index 881caa385a36..7f27ec5999ea 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 
 #include <linux/fs.h>
 #include <linux/cred.h>
+#include <linux/ctype.h>
 #include <linux/namei.h>
 #include <linux/xattr.h>
 #include <linux/ratelimit.h>
@@ -467,6 +468,12 @@ static struct dentry *ovl_index_upper(struct ovl_fs *ofs, struct dentry *index)
 	return upper;
 }
 
+/* Is this a leftover from create/whiteout of directory index entry? */
+static bool ovl_is_temp_index(struct dentry *index)
+{
+	return index->d_name.name[0] == '#';
+}
+
 /*
  * Verify that an index entry name matches the origin file handle stored in
  * OVL_XATTR_ORIGIN and that origin file handle can be decoded to lower path.
@@ -484,6 +491,11 @@ int ovl_verify_index(struct ovl_fs *ofs, struct dentry *index)
 	if (!d_inode(index))
 		return 0;
 
+	/* Cleanup leftover from index create/cleanup attempt */
+	err = -ESTALE;
+	if (ovl_is_temp_index(index))
+		goto fail;
+
 	err = -EINVAL;
 	if (index->d_name.len < sizeof(struct ovl_fh)*2)
 		goto fail;