diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
index 4e0de939fea1..9342fa6a38c2 100644
--- a/fs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/namei.c
@@ -1717,7 +1717,11 @@ static inline int may_lookup(struct mnt_idmap *idmap,
 {
 	if (nd->flags & LOOKUP_RCU) {
 		int err = inode_permission(idmap, nd->inode, MAY_EXEC|MAY_NOT_BLOCK);
-		if (err != -ECHILD || !try_to_unlazy(nd))
+		if (!err)		// success, keep going
+			return 0;
+		if (!try_to_unlazy(nd))
+			return -ECHILD;	// redo it all non-lazy
+		if (err != -ECHILD)	// hard error
 			return err;
 	}
 	return inode_permission(idmap, nd->inode, MAY_EXEC);