diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
index 1560fdc09a5f..74e696426aae 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/dir.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <linux/cred.h>
 #include <linux/posix_acl.h>
 #include <linux/posix_acl_xattr.h>
+#include <linux/atomic.h>
 #include "overlayfs.h"
 
 void ovl_cleanup(struct inode *wdir, struct dentry *wdentry)
@@ -37,8 +38,10 @@ struct dentry *ovl_lookup_temp(struct dentry *workdir, struct dentry *dentry)
 {
 	struct dentry *temp;
 	char name[20];
+	static atomic_t temp_id = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
 
-	snprintf(name, sizeof(name), "#%lx", (unsigned long) dentry);
+	/* counter is allowed to wrap, since temp dentries are ephemeral */
+	snprintf(name, sizeof(name), "#%x", atomic_inc_return(&temp_id));
 
 	temp = lookup_one_len(name, workdir, strlen(name));
 	if (!IS_ERR(temp) && temp->d_inode) {