diff --git a/fs/btrfs/inode.c b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
index 593a2c3a27ab87192a88c0ce4bf66d92267587f0..41132339e2ead2be931e4a1501532b4fc4f96468 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/inode.c
@@ -6734,10 +6734,9 @@ int btrfs_create_subvol_root(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	btrfs_i_size_write(inode, 0);
 
 	err = btrfs_update_inode(trans, new_root, inode);
-	BUG_ON(err);
 
 	iput(inode);
-	return 0;
+	return err;
 }
 
 struct inode *btrfs_alloc_inode(struct super_block *sb)
diff --git a/fs/btrfs/ioctl.c b/fs/btrfs/ioctl.c
index 4e51494614357f7c03656a1f6fdcc59c96b4e3ce..de25e4255aeb637287b56fa7fe737f3b78655851 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/ioctl.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/ioctl.c
@@ -430,6 +430,11 @@ static noinline int create_subvol(struct btrfs_root *root,
 	btrfs_record_root_in_trans(trans, new_root);
 
 	ret = btrfs_create_subvol_root(trans, new_root, new_dirid);
+	if (ret) {
+		/* We potentially lose an unused inode item here */
+		goto fail;
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * insert the directory item
 	 */