diff --git a/security/apparmor/apparmorfs.c b/security/apparmor/apparmorfs.c
index 63ddefb6ddd1..23b2853ce3c4 100644
--- a/security/apparmor/apparmorfs.c
+++ b/security/apparmor/apparmorfs.c
@@ -1698,6 +1698,10 @@ int __aafs_profile_mkdir(struct aa_profile *profile, struct dentry *parent)
 		struct aa_profile *p;
 		p = aa_deref_parent(profile);
 		dent = prof_dir(p);
+		if (!dent) {
+			error = -ENOENT;
+			goto fail2;
+		}
 		/* adding to parent that previously didn't have children */
 		dent = aafs_create_dir("profiles", dent);
 		if (IS_ERR(dent))