diff --git a/fs/ext4/namei.c b/fs/ext4/namei.c
index 68611945687d..63c33e053478 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/namei.c
@@ -57,10 +57,15 @@ static struct buffer_head *ext4_append(handle_t *handle,
 
 	*block = inode->i_size >> inode->i_sb->s_blocksize_bits;
 
-	if ((bh = ext4_bread(handle, inode, *block, 1, err))) {
+	bh = ext4_bread(handle, inode, *block, 1, err);
+	if (bh) {
 		inode->i_size += inode->i_sb->s_blocksize;
 		EXT4_I(inode)->i_disksize = inode->i_size;
-		ext4_journal_get_write_access(handle,bh);
+		*err = ext4_journal_get_write_access(handle, bh);
+		if (*err) {
+			brelse(bh);
+			bh = NULL;
+		}
 	}
 	return bh;
 }