---
 fs/overlayfs/dir.c |   18 ++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

--- a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
@@ -819,6 +819,20 @@ static bool ovl_pure_upper(struct dentry
 	       !ovl_test_flag(OVL_WHITEOUTS, d_inode(dentry));
 }
 
+static void ovl_drop_nlink(struct inode *inode)
+{
+	struct dentry *alias = d_find_alias(inode);
+
+	dput(alias);
+	/*
+	 * Changes to underlying layers may cause i_nlink to lose sync with
+	 * reality.  In this case prevent the link count from going to zero
+	 * prematurely.
+	 */
+	if (inode->i_nlink > !!alias)
+		drop_nlink(inode);
+}
+
 static int ovl_do_remove(struct dentry *dentry, bool is_dir)
 {
 	int err;
@@ -856,7 +870,7 @@ static int ovl_do_remove(struct dentry *
 		if (is_dir)
 			clear_nlink(dentry->d_inode);
 		else
-			drop_nlink(dentry->d_inode);
+			ovl_drop_nlink(dentry->d_inode);
 	}
 	ovl_nlink_end(dentry);
 
@@ -1201,7 +1215,7 @@ static int ovl_rename(struct inode *oldd
 		if (new_is_dir)
 			clear_nlink(d_inode(new));
 		else
-			drop_nlink(d_inode(new));
+			ovl_drop_nlink(d_inode(new));
 	}
 
 	ovl_dir_modified(old->d_parent, ovl_type_origin(old) ||