diff --git a/fs/reiserfs/inode.c b/fs/reiserfs/inode.c
index 1aaf2c7d44e6..d9f614a57731 100644
--- a/fs/reiserfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/reiserfs/inode.c
@@ -1980,7 +1980,17 @@ int reiserfs_new_inode(struct reiserfs_transaction_handle *th,
       out_inserted_sd:
 	inode->i_nlink = 0;
 	th->t_trans_id = 0;	/* so the caller can't use this handle later */
-	iput(inode);
+
+	/* If we were inheriting an ACL, we need to release the lock so that
+	 * iput doesn't deadlock in reiserfs_delete_xattrs. The locking
+	 * code really needs to be reworked, but this will take care of it
+	 * for now. -jeffm */
+	if (REISERFS_I(dir)->i_acl_default) {
+		reiserfs_write_unlock_xattrs(dir->i_sb);
+		iput(inode);
+		reiserfs_write_lock_xattrs(dir->i_sb);
+	} else
+		iput(inode);
 	return err;
 }