diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
index ec0c2a050043..961284936917 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
@@ -49,13 +49,13 @@ int ovl_setattr(struct dentry *dentry, struct iattr *attr)
 	if (err)
 		goto out;
 
-	upperdentry = ovl_dentry_upper(dentry);
-	if (upperdentry) {
+	err = ovl_copy_up(dentry);
+	if (!err) {
+		upperdentry = ovl_dentry_upper(dentry);
+
 		mutex_lock(&upperdentry->d_inode->i_mutex);
 		err = notify_change(upperdentry, attr, NULL);
 		mutex_unlock(&upperdentry->d_inode->i_mutex);
-	} else {
-		err = ovl_copy_up_last(dentry, attr, false);
 	}
 	ovl_drop_write(dentry);
 out: