diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
index ca56b1328a2c..e7e888dea634 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
@@ -558,20 +558,20 @@ struct posix_acl *do_ovl_get_acl(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 				 struct inode *inode, int type,
 				 bool rcu, bool noperm)
 {
-	struct inode *realinode = ovl_inode_real(inode);
+	struct inode *realinode;
 	struct posix_acl *acl;
 	struct path realpath;
 
-	if (!IS_POSIXACL(realinode))
-		return NULL;
-
 	/* Careful in RCU walk mode */
-	ovl_i_path_real(inode, &realpath);
-	if (!realpath.dentry) {
+	realinode = ovl_i_path_real(inode, &realpath);
+	if (!realinode) {
 		WARN_ON(!rcu);
 		return ERR_PTR(-ECHILD);
 	}
 
+	if (!IS_POSIXACL(realinode))
+		return NULL;
+
 	if (rcu) {
 		/*
 		 * If the layer is idmapped drop out of RCU path walk