diff --git a/fs/namei.c b/fs/namei.c
index eaf07f87cba51..53d815415810e 100644
--- a/fs/namei.c
+++ b/fs/namei.c
@@ -2296,13 +2296,16 @@ static const char *path_init(struct nameidata *nd, unsigned flags)
 
 	nd->m_seq = read_seqbegin(&mount_lock);
 
-	/* Figure out the starting path and root (if needed). */
-	if (*s == '/') {
+	/* Absolute pathname -- fetch the root (LOOKUP_IN_ROOT uses nd->dfd). */
+	if (*s == '/' && !(flags & LOOKUP_IN_ROOT)) {
 		error = nd_jump_root(nd);
 		if (unlikely(error))
 			return ERR_PTR(error);
 		return s;
-	} else if (nd->dfd == AT_FDCWD) {
+	}
+
+	/* Relative pathname -- get the starting-point it is relative to. */
+	if (nd->dfd == AT_FDCWD) {
 		if (flags & LOOKUP_RCU) {
 			struct fs_struct *fs = current->fs;
 			unsigned seq;
@@ -2342,6 +2345,7 @@ static const char *path_init(struct nameidata *nd, unsigned flags)
 		}
 		fdput(f);
 	}
+
 	/* For scoped-lookups we need to set the root to the dirfd as well. */
 	if (flags & LOOKUP_IS_SCOPED) {
 		nd->root = nd->path;
diff --git a/include/linux/namei.h b/include/linux/namei.h
index d2a98083be774..4e77068f7a1a2 100644
--- a/include/linux/namei.h
+++ b/include/linux/namei.h
@@ -45,8 +45,9 @@ enum {LAST_NORM, LAST_ROOT, LAST_DOT, LAST_DOTDOT, LAST_BIND};
 #define LOOKUP_NO_MAGICLINKS	0x020000 /* No nd_jump_link() crossing. */
 #define LOOKUP_NO_XDEV		0x040000 /* No mountpoint crossing. */
 #define LOOKUP_BENEATH		0x080000 /* No escaping from starting point. */
+#define LOOKUP_IN_ROOT		0x100000 /* Treat dirfd as fs root. */
 /* LOOKUP_* flags which do scope-related checks based on the dirfd. */
-#define LOOKUP_IS_SCOPED LOOKUP_BENEATH
+#define LOOKUP_IS_SCOPED (LOOKUP_BENEATH | LOOKUP_IN_ROOT)
 
 extern int path_pts(struct path *path);