diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/util.c b/fs/overlayfs/util.c
index 73939e08d8bf8dc9dd1127d49d697d9a310ddd29..61ace2de3019f168164007746ede45547800d681 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/util.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/util.c
@@ -134,7 +134,8 @@ enum ovl_path_type ovl_path_type(struct dentry *dentry)
 		 */
 		if (oe->numlower) {
 			type |= __OVL_PATH_ORIGIN;
-			if (d_is_dir(dentry))
+			if (d_is_dir(dentry) ||
+			    !ovl_has_upperdata(d_inode(dentry)))
 				type |= __OVL_PATH_MERGE;
 		}
 	} else {