diff --git a/include/linux/sunrpc/xdr.h b/include/linux/sunrpc/xdr.h
index 0751c9464d0f..e4057d729f03 100644
--- a/include/linux/sunrpc/xdr.h
+++ b/include/linux/sunrpc/xdr.h
@@ -112,7 +112,8 @@ struct xdr_buf {
 __be32 *xdr_encode_opaque_fixed(__be32 *p, const void *ptr, unsigned int len);
 __be32 *xdr_encode_opaque(__be32 *p, const void *ptr, unsigned int len);
 __be32 *xdr_encode_string(__be32 *p, const char *s);
-__be32 *xdr_decode_string_inplace(__be32 *p, char **sp, int *lenp, int maxlen);
+__be32 *xdr_decode_string_inplace(__be32 *p, char **sp, unsigned int *lenp,
+			unsigned int maxlen);
 __be32 *xdr_encode_netobj(__be32 *p, const struct xdr_netobj *);
 __be32 *xdr_decode_netobj(__be32 *p, struct xdr_netobj *);
 
diff --git a/net/sunrpc/xdr.c b/net/sunrpc/xdr.c
index 54264062ea69..995c3fdc16c2 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/xdr.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/xdr.c
@@ -96,11 +96,13 @@ xdr_encode_string(__be32 *p, const char *string)
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(xdr_encode_string);
 
 __be32 *
-xdr_decode_string_inplace(__be32 *p, char **sp, int *lenp, int maxlen)
+xdr_decode_string_inplace(__be32 *p, char **sp,
+			  unsigned int *lenp, unsigned int maxlen)
 {
-	unsigned int	len;
+	u32 len;
 
-	if ((len = ntohl(*p++)) > maxlen)
+	len = ntohl(*p++);
+	if (len > maxlen)
 		return NULL;
 	*lenp = len;
 	*sp = (char *) p;