diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
index bfe7ee0aa51f7738bf9f43f5ee44f517493a0372..123ce07cdc77b60e652db93894a42bc904f6f4bd 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/inode.c
@@ -280,12 +280,14 @@ int ovl_permission(struct user_namespace *mnt_userns,
 		   struct inode *inode, int mask)
 {
 	struct inode *upperinode = ovl_inode_upper(inode);
-	struct inode *realinode = upperinode ?: ovl_inode_lower(inode);
+	struct inode *realinode;
+	struct path realpath;
 	const struct cred *old_cred;
 	int err;
 
 	/* Careful in RCU walk mode */
-	if (!realinode) {
+	ovl_i_path_real(inode, &realpath);
+	if (!realpath.dentry) {
 		WARN_ON(!(mask & MAY_NOT_BLOCK));
 		return -ECHILD;
 	}
@@ -298,6 +300,7 @@ int ovl_permission(struct user_namespace *mnt_userns,
 	if (err)
 		return err;
 
+	realinode = d_inode(realpath.dentry);
 	old_cred = ovl_override_creds(inode->i_sb);
 	if (!upperinode &&
 	    !special_file(realinode->i_mode) && mask & MAY_WRITE) {
@@ -305,7 +308,7 @@ int ovl_permission(struct user_namespace *mnt_userns,
 		/* Make sure mounter can read file for copy up later */
 		mask |= MAY_READ;
 	}
-	err = inode_permission(&init_user_ns, realinode, mask);
+	err = inode_permission(mnt_user_ns(realpath.mnt), realinode, mask);
 	revert_creds(old_cred);
 
 	return err;