diff --git a/fs/jffs2/dir.c b/fs/jffs2/dir.c
index f20cff1194bb..776493713153 100644
--- a/fs/jffs2/dir.c
+++ b/fs/jffs2/dir.c
@@ -590,10 +590,14 @@ static int jffs2_rmdir (struct inode *dir_i, struct dentry *dentry)
 	int ret;
 	uint32_t now = JFFS2_NOW();
 
+	mutex_lock(&f->sem);
 	for (fd = f->dents ; fd; fd = fd->next) {
-		if (fd->ino)
+		if (fd->ino) {
+			mutex_unlock(&f->sem);
 			return -ENOTEMPTY;
+		}
 	}
+	mutex_unlock(&f->sem);
 
 	ret = jffs2_do_unlink(c, dir_f, dentry->d_name.name,
 			      dentry->d_name.len, f, now);