diff --git a/fs/autofs4/root.c b/fs/autofs4/root.c
index 47adf270106a..b4631046867e 100644
--- a/fs/autofs4/root.c
+++ b/fs/autofs4/root.c
@@ -655,14 +655,29 @@ static struct dentry *autofs4_lookup(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry, s
 
 	/*
 	 * If this dentry is unhashed, then we shouldn't honour this
-	 * lookup even if the dentry is positive.  Returning ENOENT here
-	 * doesn't do the right thing for all system calls, but it should
-	 * be OK for the operations we permit from an autofs.
+	 * lookup.  Returning ENOENT here doesn't do the right thing
+	 * for all system calls, but it should be OK for the operations
+	 * we permit from an autofs.
 	 */
 	if (dentry->d_inode && d_unhashed(dentry)) {
+		/*
+		 * A user space application can (and has done in the past)
+		 * remove and re-create this directory during the callback.
+		 * This can leave us with an unhashed dentry, but a
+		 * successful mount!  So we need to perform another
+		 * cached lookup in case the dentry now exists.
+		 */
+		struct dentry *parent = dentry->d_parent;
+		struct dentry *new = d_lookup(parent, &dentry->d_name);
+		if (new != NULL)
+			dentry = new;
+		else
+			dentry = ERR_PTR(-ENOENT);
+
 		if (unhashed)
 			dput(unhashed);
-		return ERR_PTR(-ENOENT);
+
+		return dentry;
 	}
 
 	if (unhashed)