diff --git a/fs/bcachefs/btree_iter.c b/fs/bcachefs/btree_iter.c
index 00140ae50cb9..6e860d47da4f 100644
--- a/fs/bcachefs/btree_iter.c
+++ b/fs/bcachefs/btree_iter.c
@@ -1956,6 +1956,7 @@ int bch2_trans_iter_put(struct btree_trans *trans,
 		return 0;
 
 	BUG_ON(trans->iters + iter->idx != iter);
+	BUG_ON(!btree_iter_live(trans, iter));
 
 	ret = btree_iter_err(iter);
 
diff --git a/fs/bcachefs/buckets.c b/fs/bcachefs/buckets.c
index 7bf2fded816f..df839021fd3d 100644
--- a/fs/bcachefs/buckets.c
+++ b/fs/bcachefs/buckets.c
@@ -1500,6 +1500,10 @@ static struct btree_iter *trans_get_update(struct btree_trans *trans,
 		       bkey_cmp(pos, i->k->k.p) < 0
 		     : !bkey_cmp(pos, i->iter->pos))) {
 			*k = bkey_i_to_s_c(i->k);
+
+			/* ugly hack.. */
+			BUG_ON(btree_iter_live(trans, i->iter));
+			trans->iters_live |= 1ULL << i->iter->idx;
 			return i->iter;
 		}