diff --git a/fs/kernfs/dir.c b/fs/kernfs/dir.c
index f58d2f16eaf7..89f8462f337e 100644
--- a/fs/kernfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/kernfs/dir.c
@@ -629,7 +629,7 @@ static struct dentry *kernfs_iop_lookup(struct inode *dir,
 	kn = kernfs_find_ns(parent, dentry->d_name.name, ns);
 
 	/* no such entry */
-	if (!kn) {
+	if (!kn || !kernfs_active(kn)) {
 		ret = NULL;
 		goto out_unlock;
 	}
@@ -1112,8 +1112,8 @@ static struct kernfs_node *kernfs_dir_pos(const void *ns,
 				break;
 		}
 	}
-	/* Skip over entries in the wrong namespace */
-	while (pos && pos->ns != ns) {
+	/* Skip over entries which are dying/dead or in the wrong namespace */
+	while (pos && (!kernfs_active(pos) || pos->ns != ns)) {
 		struct rb_node *node = rb_next(&pos->rb);
 		if (!node)
 			pos = NULL;
@@ -1127,14 +1127,15 @@ static struct kernfs_node *kernfs_dir_next_pos(const void *ns,
 	struct kernfs_node *parent, ino_t ino, struct kernfs_node *pos)
 {
 	pos = kernfs_dir_pos(ns, parent, ino, pos);
-	if (pos)
+	if (pos) {
 		do {
 			struct rb_node *node = rb_next(&pos->rb);
 			if (!node)
 				pos = NULL;
 			else
 				pos = rb_to_kn(node);
-		} while (pos && pos->ns != ns);
+		} while (pos && (!kernfs_active(pos) || pos->ns != ns));
+	}
 	return pos;
 }