diff --git a/fs/ext3/namei.c b/fs/ext3/namei.c
index af193a304ee5..8bd8ac077704 100644
--- a/fs/ext3/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ext3/namei.c
@@ -1005,10 +1005,7 @@ static struct dentry *ext3_lookup(struct inode * dir, struct dentry *dentry, str
 		if (!inode)
 			return ERR_PTR(-EACCES);
 	}
-	if (inode)
-		return d_splice_alias(inode, dentry);
-	d_add(dentry, inode);
-	return NULL;
+	return d_splice_alias(inode, dentry);
 }