diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/super.c b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
index 50529a4e7bf3..77f08ac04d1f 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
@@ -1759,7 +1759,8 @@ static struct ovl_entry *ovl_get_lowerstack(struct super_block *sb,
  * - upper/work dir of any overlayfs instance
  */
 static int ovl_check_layer(struct super_block *sb, struct ovl_fs *ofs,
-			   struct dentry *dentry, const char *name)
+			   struct dentry *dentry, const char *name,
+			   bool is_lower)
 {
 	struct dentry *next = dentry, *parent;
 	int err = 0;
@@ -1771,7 +1772,7 @@ static int ovl_check_layer(struct super_block *sb, struct ovl_fs *ofs,
 
 	/* Walk back ancestors to root (inclusive) looking for traps */
 	while (!err && parent != next) {
-		if (ovl_lookup_trap_inode(sb, parent)) {
+		if (is_lower && ovl_lookup_trap_inode(sb, parent)) {
 			err = -ELOOP;
 			pr_err("overlapping %s path\n", name);
 		} else if (ovl_is_inuse(parent)) {
@@ -1797,7 +1798,7 @@ static int ovl_check_overlapping_layers(struct super_block *sb,
 
 	if (ovl_upper_mnt(ofs)) {
 		err = ovl_check_layer(sb, ofs, ovl_upper_mnt(ofs)->mnt_root,
-				      "upperdir");
+				      "upperdir", false);
 		if (err)
 			return err;
 
@@ -1808,7 +1809,8 @@ static int ovl_check_overlapping_layers(struct super_block *sb,
 		 * workbasedir.  In that case, we already have their traps in
 		 * inode cache and we will catch that case on lookup.
 		 */
-		err = ovl_check_layer(sb, ofs, ofs->workbasedir, "workdir");
+		err = ovl_check_layer(sb, ofs, ofs->workbasedir, "workdir",
+				      false);
 		if (err)
 			return err;
 	}
@@ -1816,7 +1818,7 @@ static int ovl_check_overlapping_layers(struct super_block *sb,
 	for (i = 1; i < ofs->numlayer; i++) {
 		err = ovl_check_layer(sb, ofs,
 				      ofs->layers[i].mnt->mnt_root,
-				      "lowerdir");
+				      "lowerdir", true);
 		if (err)
 			return err;
 	}