diff --git a/fs/nfs/inode.c b/fs/nfs/inode.c
index 6554281e24a2..de3f11e6234e 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/inode.c
@@ -1141,6 +1141,9 @@ static int nfs_update_inode(struct inode *inode, struct nfs_fattr *fattr)
 	    inode->i_gid != fattr->gid)
 		invalid |= NFS_INO_INVALID_ATTR|NFS_INO_INVALID_ACCESS|NFS_INO_INVALID_ACL;
 
+	if (inode->i_nlink != fattr->nlink)
+		invalid |= NFS_INO_INVALID_ATTR;
+
 	inode->i_mode = fattr->mode;
 	inode->i_nlink = fattr->nlink;
 	inode->i_uid = fattr->uid;