diff --git a/security/keys/keyring.c b/security/keys/keyring.c
index dd7cd0f8e13c..0b27271c670c 100644
--- a/security/keys/keyring.c
+++ b/security/keys/keyring.c
@@ -526,9 +526,8 @@ struct key *find_keyring_by_name(const char *name, bool skip_perm_check)
 	struct key *keyring;
 	int bucket;
 
-	keyring = ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
 	if (!name)
-		goto error;
+		return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
 
 	bucket = keyring_hash(name);
 
@@ -555,17 +554,18 @@ struct key *find_keyring_by_name(const char *name, bool skip_perm_check)
 					   KEY_SEARCH) < 0)
 				continue;
 
-			/* we've got a match */
-			atomic_inc(&keyring->usage);
-			read_unlock(&keyring_name_lock);
-			goto error;
+			/* we've got a match but we might end up racing with
+			 * key_cleanup() if the keyring is currently 'dead'
+			 * (ie. it has a zero usage count) */
+			if (!atomic_inc_not_zero(&keyring->usage))
+				continue;
+			goto out;
 		}
 	}
 
-	read_unlock(&keyring_name_lock);
 	keyring = ERR_PTR(-ENOKEY);
-
- error:
+out:
+	read_unlock(&keyring_name_lock);
 	return keyring;
 
 } /* end find_keyring_by_name() */