diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c b/fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c
index 9008ab9fbd2e..061a8448e6c4 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/copy_up.c
@@ -343,12 +343,13 @@ static int ovl_copy_up_locked(struct dentry *workdir, struct dentry *upperdir,
 		temp = ovl_do_tmpfile(upperdir, stat->mode);
 	else
 		temp = ovl_lookup_temp(workdir, dentry);
-	err = PTR_ERR(temp);
-	if (IS_ERR(temp))
-		goto out1;
-
 	err = 0;
-	if (!tmpfile)
+	if (IS_ERR(temp)) {
+		err = PTR_ERR(temp);
+		temp = NULL;
+	}
+
+	if (!err && !tmpfile)
 		err = ovl_create_real(wdir, temp, &cattr, NULL, true);
 
 	if (new_creds) {