diff --git a/kernel/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup.c
index 1a06be61dcd0..fe00b3b983a8 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup.c
@@ -2039,10 +2039,13 @@ int cgroupstats_build(struct cgroupstats *stats, struct dentry *dentry)
 	struct cgroup *cgrp;
 	struct cgroup_iter it;
 	struct task_struct *tsk;
+
 	/*
-	 * Validate dentry by checking the superblock operations
+	 * Validate dentry by checking the superblock operations,
+	 * and make sure it's a directory.
 	 */
-	if (dentry->d_sb->s_op != &cgroup_ops)
+	if (dentry->d_sb->s_op != &cgroup_ops ||
+	    !S_ISDIR(dentry->d_inode->i_mode))
 		 goto err;
 
 	ret = 0;