diff --git a/net/sunrpc/cache.c b/net/sunrpc/cache.c
index 261131dfa1f1..d22328984853 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/cache.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/cache.c
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 
 static bool cache_defer_req(struct cache_req *req, struct cache_head *item);
 static void cache_revisit_request(struct cache_head *item);
+static bool cache_listeners_exist(struct cache_detail *detail);
 
 static void cache_init(struct cache_head *h, struct cache_detail *detail)
 {
@@ -306,7 +307,8 @@ int cache_check(struct cache_detail *detail,
 				cache_fresh_unlocked(h, detail);
 				break;
 			}
-		}
+		} else if (!cache_listeners_exist(detail))
+			rv = try_to_negate_entry(detail, h);
 	}
 
 	if (rv == -EAGAIN) {