diff --git a/fs/sysv/itree.c b/fs/sysv/itree.c
index edb94e55de8e5..7b2a07a31e463 100644
--- a/fs/sysv/itree.c
+++ b/fs/sysv/itree.c
@@ -82,9 +82,6 @@ static inline sysv_zone_t *block_end(struct buffer_head *bh)
 	return (sysv_zone_t*)((char*)bh->b_data + bh->b_size);
 }
 
-/*
- * Requires read_lock(&pointers_lock) or write_lock(&pointers_lock)
- */
 static Indirect *get_branch(struct inode *inode,
 			    int depth,
 			    int offsets[],
@@ -104,15 +101,18 @@ static Indirect *get_branch(struct inode *inode,
 		bh = sb_bread(sb, block);
 		if (!bh)
 			goto failure;
+		read_lock(&pointers_lock);
 		if (!verify_chain(chain, p))
 			goto changed;
 		add_chain(++p, bh, (sysv_zone_t*)bh->b_data + *++offsets);
+		read_unlock(&pointers_lock);
 		if (!p->key)
 			goto no_block;
 	}
 	return NULL;
 
 changed:
+	read_unlock(&pointers_lock);
 	brelse(bh);
 	*err = -EAGAIN;
 	goto no_block;
@@ -218,9 +218,7 @@ static int get_block(struct inode *inode, sector_t iblock, struct buffer_head *b
 		goto out;
 
 reread:
-	read_lock(&pointers_lock);
 	partial = get_branch(inode, depth, offsets, chain, &err);
-	read_unlock(&pointers_lock);
 
 	/* Simplest case - block found, no allocation needed */
 	if (!partial) {
@@ -290,9 +288,9 @@ static Indirect *find_shared(struct inode *inode,
 	*top = 0;
 	for (k = depth; k > 1 && !offsets[k-1]; k--)
 		;
+	partial = get_branch(inode, k, offsets, chain, &err);
 
 	write_lock(&pointers_lock);
-	partial = get_branch(inode, k, offsets, chain, &err);
 	if (!partial)
 		partial = chain + k-1;
 	/*