diff --git a/fs/notify/fsnotify.c b/fs/notify/fsnotify.c
index 7974e91ffe13..2c50e9e50d35 100644
--- a/fs/notify/fsnotify.c
+++ b/fs/notify/fsnotify.c
@@ -103,17 +103,13 @@ void fsnotify_sb_delete(struct super_block *sb)
  * parent cares.  Thus when an event happens on a child it can quickly tell
  * if there is a need to find a parent and send the event to the parent.
  */
-void __fsnotify_update_child_dentry_flags(struct inode *inode)
+void fsnotify_update_children_dentry_flags(struct inode *inode, bool watched)
 {
 	struct dentry *alias;
-	int watched;
 
 	if (!S_ISDIR(inode->i_mode))
 		return;
 
-	/* determine if the children should tell inode about their events */
-	watched = fsnotify_inode_watches_children(inode);
-
 	spin_lock(&inode->i_lock);
 	/* run all of the dentries associated with this inode.  Since this is a
 	 * directory, there damn well better only be one item on this list */
@@ -140,6 +136,24 @@ void __fsnotify_update_child_dentry_flags(struct inode *inode)
 	spin_unlock(&inode->i_lock);
 }
 
+/*
+ * Lazily clear false positive PARENT_WATCHED flag for child whose parent had
+ * stopped wacthing children.
+ */
+static void fsnotify_update_child_dentry_flags(struct inode *inode,
+					       struct dentry *dentry)
+{
+	spin_lock(&dentry->d_lock);
+	/*
+	 * d_lock is a sufficient barrier to prevent observing a non-watched
+	 * parent state from before the fsnotify_update_children_dentry_flags()
+	 * or fsnotify_update_flags() call that had set PARENT_WATCHED.
+	 */
+	if (!fsnotify_inode_watches_children(inode))
+		dentry->d_flags &= ~DCACHE_FSNOTIFY_PARENT_WATCHED;
+	spin_unlock(&dentry->d_lock);
+}
+
 /* Are inode/sb/mount interested in parent and name info with this event? */
 static bool fsnotify_event_needs_parent(struct inode *inode, struct mount *mnt,
 					__u32 mask)
@@ -208,7 +222,7 @@ int __fsnotify_parent(struct dentry *dentry, __u32 mask, const void *data,
 	p_inode = parent->d_inode;
 	p_mask = fsnotify_inode_watches_children(p_inode);
 	if (unlikely(parent_watched && !p_mask))
-		__fsnotify_update_child_dentry_flags(p_inode);
+		fsnotify_update_child_dentry_flags(p_inode, dentry);
 
 	/*
 	 * Include parent/name in notification either if some notification
diff --git a/fs/notify/fsnotify.h b/fs/notify/fsnotify.h
index fde74eb333cc..bce9be36d06b 100644
--- a/fs/notify/fsnotify.h
+++ b/fs/notify/fsnotify.h
@@ -74,7 +74,8 @@ static inline void fsnotify_clear_marks_by_sb(struct super_block *sb)
  * update the dentry->d_flags of all of inode's children to indicate if inode cares
  * about events that happen to its children.
  */
-extern void __fsnotify_update_child_dentry_flags(struct inode *inode);
+extern void fsnotify_update_children_dentry_flags(struct inode *inode,
+						  bool watched);
 
 extern struct kmem_cache *fsnotify_mark_connector_cachep;
 
diff --git a/fs/notify/mark.c b/fs/notify/mark.c
index c74ef947447d..6797a2952f87 100644
--- a/fs/notify/mark.c
+++ b/fs/notify/mark.c
@@ -176,6 +176,24 @@ static void *__fsnotify_recalc_mask(struct fsnotify_mark_connector *conn)
 	return fsnotify_update_iref(conn, want_iref);
 }
 
+static bool fsnotify_conn_watches_children(
+					struct fsnotify_mark_connector *conn)
+{
+	if (conn->type != FSNOTIFY_OBJ_TYPE_INODE)
+		return false;
+
+	return fsnotify_inode_watches_children(fsnotify_conn_inode(conn));
+}
+
+static void fsnotify_conn_set_children_dentry_flags(
+					struct fsnotify_mark_connector *conn)
+{
+	if (conn->type != FSNOTIFY_OBJ_TYPE_INODE)
+		return;
+
+	fsnotify_update_children_dentry_flags(fsnotify_conn_inode(conn), true);
+}
+
 /*
  * Calculate mask of events for a list of marks. The caller must make sure
  * connector and connector->obj cannot disappear under us.  Callers achieve
@@ -184,15 +202,23 @@ static void *__fsnotify_recalc_mask(struct fsnotify_mark_connector *conn)
  */
 void fsnotify_recalc_mask(struct fsnotify_mark_connector *conn)
 {
+	bool update_children;
+
 	if (!conn)
 		return;
 
 	spin_lock(&conn->lock);
+	update_children = !fsnotify_conn_watches_children(conn);
 	__fsnotify_recalc_mask(conn);
+	update_children &= fsnotify_conn_watches_children(conn);
 	spin_unlock(&conn->lock);
-	if (conn->type == FSNOTIFY_OBJ_TYPE_INODE)
-		__fsnotify_update_child_dentry_flags(
-					fsnotify_conn_inode(conn));
+	/*
+	 * Set children's PARENT_WATCHED flags only if parent started watching.
+	 * When parent stops watching, we clear false positive PARENT_WATCHED
+	 * flags lazily in __fsnotify_parent().
+	 */
+	if (update_children)
+		fsnotify_conn_set_children_dentry_flags(conn);
 }
 
 /* Free all connectors queued for freeing once SRCU period ends */
diff --git a/include/linux/fsnotify_backend.h b/include/linux/fsnotify_backend.h
index d7d96c806bff..1276de409724 100644
--- a/include/linux/fsnotify_backend.h
+++ b/include/linux/fsnotify_backend.h
@@ -563,12 +563,14 @@ static inline __u32 fsnotify_parent_needed_mask(__u32 mask)
 
 static inline int fsnotify_inode_watches_children(struct inode *inode)
 {
+	__u32 parent_mask = READ_ONCE(inode->i_fsnotify_mask);
+
 	/* FS_EVENT_ON_CHILD is set if the inode may care */
-	if (!(inode->i_fsnotify_mask & FS_EVENT_ON_CHILD))
+	if (!(parent_mask & FS_EVENT_ON_CHILD))
 		return 0;
 	/* this inode might care about child events, does it care about the
 	 * specific set of events that can happen on a child? */
-	return inode->i_fsnotify_mask & FS_EVENTS_POSS_ON_CHILD;
+	return parent_mask & FS_EVENTS_POSS_ON_CHILD;
 }
 
 /*
@@ -582,7 +584,7 @@ static inline void fsnotify_update_flags(struct dentry *dentry)
 	/*
 	 * Serialisation of setting PARENT_WATCHED on the dentries is provided
 	 * by d_lock. If inotify_inode_watched changes after we have taken
-	 * d_lock, the following __fsnotify_update_child_dentry_flags call will
+	 * d_lock, the following fsnotify_update_children_dentry_flags call will
 	 * find our entry, so it will spin until we complete here, and update
 	 * us with the new state.
 	 */
