diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/super.c b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
index ddcf8d3a83bfd97b4367c24d8a83146d56cd7add..51152858ff214be30047e3aa489a828cc8f335ea 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
@@ -1338,14 +1338,23 @@ static int ovl_get_lower_layers(struct super_block *sb, struct ovl_fs *ofs,
 		if (err < 0)
 			goto out;
 
+		/*
+		 * Check if lower root conflicts with this overlay layers before
+		 * checking if it is in-use as upperdir/workdir of "another"
+		 * mount, because we do not bother to check in ovl_is_inuse() if
+		 * the upperdir/workdir is in fact in-use by our
+		 * upperdir/workdir.
+		 */
 		err = ovl_setup_trap(sb, stack[i].dentry, &trap, "lowerdir");
 		if (err)
 			goto out;
 
 		if (ovl_is_inuse(stack[i].dentry)) {
 			err = ovl_report_in_use(ofs, "lowerdir");
-			if (err)
+			if (err) {
+				iput(trap);
 				goto out;
+			}
 		}
 
 		mnt = clone_private_mount(&stack[i]);