diff --git a/fs/io_uring.c b/fs/io_uring.c
index e01f595f5b7d..91de361ea9ab 100644
--- a/fs/io_uring.c
+++ b/fs/io_uring.c
@@ -6947,7 +6947,12 @@ static int io_req_prep(struct io_kiocb *req, const struct io_uring_sqe *sqe)
 
 static int io_req_prep_async(struct io_kiocb *req)
 {
-	if (!io_op_defs[req->opcode].needs_async_setup)
+	const struct io_op_def *def = &io_op_defs[req->opcode];
+
+	/* assign early for deferred execution for non-fixed file */
+	if (def->needs_file && !(req->flags & REQ_F_FIXED_FILE))
+		req->file = io_file_get_normal(req, req->fd);
+	if (!def->needs_async_setup)
 		return 0;
 	if (WARN_ON_ONCE(req_has_async_data(req)))
 		return -EFAULT;