diff --git a/fs/ext4/inode.c b/fs/ext4/inode.c
index 4815be26b15f..b8046182efb0 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/inode.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/inode.c
@@ -5223,7 +5223,7 @@ int ext4_setattr(struct dentry *dentry, struct iattr *attr)
 			up_write(&EXT4_I(inode)->i_data_sem);
 			ext4_journal_stop(handle);
 			if (error) {
-				if (orphan)
+				if (orphan && inode->i_nlink)
 					ext4_orphan_del(NULL, inode);
 				goto err_out;
 			}