diff --git a/fs/incfs/vfs.c b/fs/incfs/vfs.c
index 69a01f346446..10b6727c8fd9 100644
--- a/fs/incfs/vfs.c
+++ b/fs/incfs/vfs.c
@@ -780,7 +780,8 @@ static struct dentry *open_or_create_index_dir(struct dentry *backing_dir)
 	if (err)
 		return ERR_PTR(err);
 
-	if (!d_really_is_positive(index_dentry)) {
+	if (!d_really_is_positive(index_dentry) ||
+		unlikely(d_unhashed(index_dentry))) {
 		dput(index_dentry);
 		return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
 	}
@@ -1646,7 +1647,8 @@ static int dir_mkdir(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry, umode_t mode)
 	if (!err) {
 		struct inode *inode = NULL;
 
-		if (d_really_is_negative(backing_dentry)) {
+		if (d_really_is_negative(backing_dentry) ||
+			unlikely(d_unhashed(backing_dentry))) {
 			err = -EINVAL;
 			goto out;
 		}
@@ -1871,6 +1873,13 @@ static int dir_rename(struct inode *old_dir, struct dentry *old_dentry,
 		return error;
 
 	backing_old_dentry = get_incfs_dentry(old_dentry)->backing_path.dentry;
+
+	if (!backing_old_dentry || backing_old_dentry == mi->mi_index_dir) {
+		/* Renaming .index not allowed */
+		error = -EBUSY;
+		goto exit;
+	}
+
 	backing_new_dentry = get_incfs_dentry(new_dentry)->backing_path.dentry;
 	dget(backing_old_dentry);
 	dget(backing_new_dentry);
@@ -1917,6 +1926,7 @@ out:
 	dput(backing_new_dentry);
 	dput(backing_old_dentry);
 
+exit:
 	mutex_unlock(&mi->mi_dir_struct_mutex);
 	if (error)
 		pr_debug("incfs: %s err:%d\n", __func__, error);
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/filesystems/incfs/incfs_test.c b/tools/testing/selftests/filesystems/incfs/incfs_test.c
index fdf29f5ca9cd..a3ab9f2a7e67 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/filesystems/incfs/incfs_test.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/filesystems/incfs/incfs_test.c
@@ -837,6 +837,12 @@ static int cant_touch_index_test(const char *mount_dir)
 		goto failure;
 	}
 
+	err = rmdir(index_path);
+	if (err == 0 || errno != EBUSY) {
+		print_error(".index directory should not be removed\n");
+		goto failure;
+	}
+
 	err = emit_file(cmd_fd, ".index", file_name, &file_id,
 				file_size, NULL);
 	if (err != -EBUSY) {
@@ -871,6 +877,12 @@ static int cant_touch_index_test(const char *mount_dir)
 		goto failure;
 	}
 
+	err = rename(index_path, dst_name);
+	if (err == 0 || errno != EBUSY) {
+		print_error("Shouldn't rename .index directory\n");
+		goto failure;
+	}
+
 	close(cmd_fd);
 	free(subdir);
 	free(index_path);