diff --git a/fs/nfsd/vfs.c b/fs/nfsd/vfs.c
index 46f59d5..efff58a 100644
--- a/fs/nfsd/vfs.c
+++ b/fs/nfsd/vfs.c
@@ -1750,6 +1750,10 @@
 	if (!type)
 		type = rdentry->d_inode->i_mode & S_IFMT;
 
+	host_err = mnt_want_write(fhp->fh_export->ex_path.mnt);
+	if (host_err)
+		goto out_nfserr;
+
 	if (type != S_IFDIR) { /* It's UNLINK */
 #ifdef MSNFS
 		if ((fhp->fh_export->ex_flags & NFSEXP_MSNFS) &&
@@ -1765,10 +1769,12 @@
 	dput(rdentry);
 
 	if (host_err)
-		goto out_nfserr;
+		goto out_drop;
 	if (EX_ISSYNC(fhp->fh_export))
 		host_err = nfsd_sync_dir(dentry);
 
+out_drop:
+	mnt_drop_write(fhp->fh_export->ex_path.mnt);
 out_nfserr:
 	err = nfserrno(host_err);
 out: