diff --git a/fs/btrfs/backref.c b/fs/btrfs/backref.c
index 01e1a0897195..c6320c43319a 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/backref.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/backref.c
@@ -1359,10 +1359,18 @@ static int find_parent_nodes(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 				goto out;
 			if (!ret && extent_item_pos) {
 				/*
-				 * we've recorded that parent, so we must extend
-				 * its inode list here
+				 * We've recorded that parent, so we must extend
+				 * its inode list here.
+				 *
+				 * However if there was corruption we may not
+				 * have found an eie, return an error in this
+				 * case.
 				 */
-				BUG_ON(!eie);
+				ASSERT(eie);
+				if (!eie) {
+					ret = -EUCLEAN;
+					goto out;
+				}
 				while (eie->next)
 					eie = eie->next;
 				eie->next = ref->inode_list;