diff --git a/fs/ceph/xattr.c b/fs/ceph/xattr.c
index 785cb3057c95..2c2ae5be9902 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/xattr.c
@@ -457,6 +457,7 @@ static int __build_xattrs(struct inode *inode)
 			for (i = 0; i < numattr; i++)
 				kfree(xattrs[i]);
 			kfree(xattrs);
+			xattrs = NULL;
 			goto start;
 		}
 		err = -EIO;