diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/readdir.c b/fs/overlayfs/readdir.c
index 8c98578d27a149..a7e45e6cd73293 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/readdir.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/readdir.c
@@ -769,10 +769,14 @@ static int ovl_dir_fsync(struct file *file, loff_t start, loff_t end,
 	struct dentry *dentry = file->f_path.dentry;
 	struct file *realfile = od->realfile;
 
+	/* Nothing to sync for lower */
+	if (!OVL_TYPE_UPPER(ovl_path_type(dentry)))
+		return 0;
+
 	/*
 	 * Need to check if we started out being a lower dir, but got copied up
 	 */
-	if (!od->is_upper && OVL_TYPE_UPPER(ovl_path_type(dentry))) {
+	if (!od->is_upper) {
 		struct inode *inode = file_inode(file);
 
 		realfile = READ_ONCE(od->upperfile);