diff --git a/fs/ext2/xattr.c b/fs/ext2/xattr.c
index 529970617a21..d27b71f1d183 100644
--- a/fs/ext2/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/ext2/xattr.c
@@ -161,6 +161,10 @@ ext2_xattr_get(struct inode *inode, int name_index, const char *name,
 
 	if (name == NULL)
 		return -EINVAL;
+	name_len = strlen(name);
+	if (name_len > 255)
+		return -ERANGE;
+
 	down_read(&EXT2_I(inode)->xattr_sem);
 	error = -ENODATA;
 	if (!EXT2_I(inode)->i_file_acl)
@@ -181,12 +185,8 @@ bad_block:	ext2_error(inode->i_sb, "ext2_xattr_get",
 		error = -EIO;
 		goto cleanup;
 	}
-	/* find named attribute */
-	name_len = strlen(name);
 
-	error = -ERANGE;
-	if (name_len > 255)
-		goto cleanup;
+	/* find named attribute */
 	entry = FIRST_ENTRY(bh);
 	while (!IS_LAST_ENTRY(entry)) {
 		struct ext2_xattr_entry *next =