diff --git a/fs/inotify.c b/fs/inotify.c
index 1f50302849c5..7d5725336527 100644
--- a/fs/inotify.c
+++ b/fs/inotify.c
@@ -848,7 +848,11 @@ static int inotify_release(struct inode *ignored, struct file *file)
 		inode = watch->inode;
 		mutex_lock(&inode->inotify_mutex);
 		mutex_lock(&dev->mutex);
-		remove_watch_no_event(watch, dev);
+
+		/* make sure we didn't race with another list removal */
+		if (likely(idr_find(&dev->idr, watch->wd)))
+			remove_watch_no_event(watch, dev);
+
 		mutex_unlock(&dev->mutex);
 		mutex_unlock(&inode->inotify_mutex);
 		put_inotify_watch(watch);