diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/btnode.c b/fs/nilfs2/btnode.c
index ee2cde07264bbbb2434aa95b2406a1b536d0a70e..19ed9015bd660655d092da3721e1e42aea1956d4 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/btnode.c
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/btnode.c
@@ -51,12 +51,21 @@ nilfs_btnode_create_block(struct address_space *btnc, __u64 blocknr)
 
 	bh = nilfs_grab_buffer(inode, btnc, blocknr, BIT(BH_NILFS_Node));
 	if (unlikely(!bh))
-		return NULL;
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 
 	if (unlikely(buffer_mapped(bh) || buffer_uptodate(bh) ||
 		     buffer_dirty(bh))) {
-		brelse(bh);
-		BUG();
+		/*
+		 * The block buffer at the specified new address was already
+		 * in use.  This can happen if it is a virtual block number
+		 * and has been reallocated due to corruption of the bitmap
+		 * used to manage its allocation state (if not, the buffer
+		 * clearing of an abandoned b-tree node is missing somewhere).
+		 */
+		nilfs_error(inode->i_sb,
+			    "state inconsistency probably due to duplicate use of b-tree node block address %llu (ino=%lu)",
+			    (unsigned long long)blocknr, inode->i_ino);
+		goto failed;
 	}
 	memset(bh->b_data, 0, i_blocksize(inode));
 	bh->b_bdev = inode->i_sb->s_bdev;
@@ -67,6 +76,12 @@ nilfs_btnode_create_block(struct address_space *btnc, __u64 blocknr)
 	unlock_page(bh->b_page);
 	put_page(bh->b_page);
 	return bh;
+
+failed:
+	unlock_page(bh->b_page);
+	put_page(bh->b_page);
+	brelse(bh);
+	return ERR_PTR(-EIO);
 }
 
 int nilfs_btnode_submit_block(struct address_space *btnc, __u64 blocknr,
@@ -217,8 +232,8 @@ int nilfs_btnode_prepare_change_key(struct address_space *btnc,
 	}
 
 	nbh = nilfs_btnode_create_block(btnc, newkey);
-	if (!nbh)
-		return -ENOMEM;
+	if (IS_ERR(nbh))
+		return PTR_ERR(nbh);
 
 	BUG_ON(nbh == obh);
 	ctxt->newbh = nbh;
diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/btree.c b/fs/nilfs2/btree.c
index 146640f0607a3c6c2d9ff471b9b904a7e1183d15..bd24a33fc72e1806b5a96d8fafcb02695628f14a 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/btree.c
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/btree.c
@@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ static int nilfs_btree_get_new_block(const struct nilfs_bmap *btree,
 	struct buffer_head *bh;
 
 	bh = nilfs_btnode_create_block(btnc, ptr);
-	if (!bh)
-		return -ENOMEM;
+	if (IS_ERR(bh))
+		return PTR_ERR(bh);
 
 	set_buffer_nilfs_volatile(bh);
 	*bhp = bh;