diff --git a/fs/ext4/namei.c b/fs/ext4/namei.c
index 3bd2301cb48e7e8ae5ca6c44880404feea40a921..661b11d8b19a210538e6f9253af8542f865d44b8 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/namei.c
@@ -2045,7 +2045,7 @@ static struct ext4_dir_entry_2 *do_split(handle_t *handle, struct inode *dir,
 		split = count/2;
 
 	hash2 = map[split].hash;
-	continued = hash2 == map[split - 1].hash;
+	continued = split > 0 ? hash2 == map[split - 1].hash : 0;
 	dxtrace(printk(KERN_INFO "Split block %lu at %x, %i/%i\n",
 			(unsigned long)dx_get_block(frame->at),
 					hash2, split, count-split));