diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/namei.c b/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
index 9bc0e580a5b3..229a88ff335c 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/namei.c
@@ -397,8 +397,19 @@ int ovl_verify_index(struct dentry *index, struct path *lowerstack,
 	if (!d_inode(index))
 		return 0;
 
-	err = -EISDIR;
-	if (d_is_dir(index))
+	/*
+	 * Directory index entries are going to be used for looking up
+	 * redirected upper dirs by lower dir fh when decoding an overlay
+	 * file handle of a merge dir. Whiteout index entries are going to be
+	 * used as an indication that an exported overlay file handle should
+	 * be treated as stale (i.e. after unlink of the overlay inode).
+	 * We don't know the verification rules for directory and whiteout
+	 * index entries, because they have not been implemented yet, so return
+	 * EROFS if those entries are found to avoid corrupting an index that
+	 * was created by a newer kernel.
+	 */
+	err = -EROFS;
+	if (d_is_dir(index) || ovl_is_whiteout(index))
 		goto fail;
 
 	err = -EINVAL;
@@ -436,8 +447,8 @@ int ovl_verify_index(struct dentry *index, struct path *lowerstack,
 	return err;
 
 fail:
-	pr_warn_ratelimited("overlayfs: failed to verify index (%pd2, err=%i)\n",
-			    index, err);
+	pr_warn_ratelimited("overlayfs: failed to verify index (%pd2, ftype=%x, err=%i)\n",
+			    index, d_inode(index)->i_mode & S_IFMT, err);
 	goto out;
 }
 
diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/readdir.c b/fs/overlayfs/readdir.c
index 0298463cf9c3..3d424a51cabb 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/readdir.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/readdir.c
@@ -703,7 +703,10 @@ int ovl_indexdir_cleanup(struct dentry *dentry, struct vfsmount *mnt,
 			err = PTR_ERR(index);
 			break;
 		}
-		if (ovl_verify_index(index, lowerstack, numlower)) {
+		err = ovl_verify_index(index, lowerstack, numlower);
+		if (err) {
+			if (err == -EROFS)
+				break;
 			err = ovl_cleanup(dir, index);
 			if (err)
 				break;