diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
index 61fa9e1614af..61cdb97f338c 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
@@ -1095,7 +1095,7 @@ static int ext4_ext_grow_indepth(handle_t *handle, struct inode *inode,
 		  le32_to_cpu(EXT_FIRST_INDEX(neh)->ei_block),
 		  ext4_idx_pblock(EXT_FIRST_INDEX(neh)));
 
-	neh->eh_depth = cpu_to_le16(neh->eh_depth + 1);
+	neh->eh_depth = cpu_to_le16(le16_to_cpu(neh->eh_depth) + 1);
 	ext4_mark_inode_dirty(handle, inode);
 out:
 	brelse(bh);