diff --git a/fs/nfs/dir.c b/fs/nfs/dir.c
index b2460a0504411..877f72433f435 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/dir.c
@@ -1982,14 +1982,14 @@ int nfs_atomic_open(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry,
 	if (!res) {
 		inode = d_inode(dentry);
 		if ((lookup_flags & LOOKUP_DIRECTORY) && inode &&
-		    !S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode))
+		    !(S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode) || S_ISLNK(inode->i_mode)))
 			res = ERR_PTR(-ENOTDIR);
 		else if (inode && S_ISREG(inode->i_mode))
 			res = ERR_PTR(-EOPENSTALE);
 	} else if (!IS_ERR(res)) {
 		inode = d_inode(res);
 		if ((lookup_flags & LOOKUP_DIRECTORY) && inode &&
-		    !S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode)) {
+		    !(S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode) || S_ISLNK(inode->i_mode))) {
 			dput(res);
 			res = ERR_PTR(-ENOTDIR);
 		} else if (inode && S_ISREG(inode->i_mode)) {