diff --git a/net/sunrpc/rpc_pipe.c b/net/sunrpc/rpc_pipe.c
index 39e14d5edaf1..e9d0953522f0 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/rpc_pipe.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/rpc_pipe.c
@@ -1317,6 +1317,7 @@ rpc_gssd_dummy_populate(struct dentry *root, struct rpc_pipe *pipe_data)
 	q.len = strlen(gssd_dummy_clnt_dir[0].name);
 	clnt_dentry = d_hash_and_lookup(gssd_dentry, &q);
 	if (!clnt_dentry) {
+		__rpc_depopulate(gssd_dentry, gssd_dummy_clnt_dir, 0, 1);
 		pipe_dentry = ERR_PTR(-ENOENT);
 		goto out;
 	}