diff --git a/fs/ceph/inode.c b/fs/ceph/inode.c
index 4055ab4d5c52..46254d53392f 100644
--- a/fs/ceph/inode.c
+++ b/fs/ceph/inode.c
@@ -1681,7 +1681,6 @@ retry_lookup:
 			if (IS_ERR(realdn)) {
 				err = PTR_ERR(realdn);
 				d_drop(dn);
-				dn = NULL;
 				goto next_item;
 			}
 			dn = realdn;