diff --git a/fs/fat/namei_msdos.c b/fs/fat/namei_msdos.c
index 0b920ee40a7f..262ec1b790b5 100644
--- a/fs/fat/namei_msdos.c
+++ b/fs/fat/namei_msdos.c
@@ -325,7 +325,12 @@ static int msdos_rmdir(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry)
 	err = fat_remove_entries(dir, &sinfo);	/* and releases bh */
 	if (err)
 		goto out;
-	drop_nlink(dir);
+	if (dir->i_nlink >= 3)
+		drop_nlink(dir);
+	else {
+		fat_fs_error(sb, "parent dir link count too low (%u)",
+			dir->i_nlink);
+	}
 
 	clear_nlink(inode);
 	fat_truncate_time(inode, NULL, S_CTIME);
diff --git a/fs/fat/namei_vfat.c b/fs/fat/namei_vfat.c
index 5dbc4cbb8fce..47ff083cfc7e 100644
--- a/fs/fat/namei_vfat.c
+++ b/fs/fat/namei_vfat.c
@@ -803,7 +803,12 @@ static int vfat_rmdir(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry)
 	err = fat_remove_entries(dir, &sinfo);	/* and releases bh */
 	if (err)
 		goto out;
-	drop_nlink(dir);
+	if (dir->i_nlink >= 3)
+		drop_nlink(dir);
+	else {
+		fat_fs_error(sb, "parent dir link count too low (%u)",
+			dir->i_nlink);
+	}
 
 	clear_nlink(inode);
 	fat_truncate_time(inode, NULL, S_ATIME|S_MTIME);