diff --git a/fs/nilfs2/sufile.c b/fs/nilfs2/sufile.c
index d85d3c758d7b..4626540008c1 100644
--- a/fs/nilfs2/sufile.c
+++ b/fs/nilfs2/sufile.c
@@ -504,15 +504,38 @@ int nilfs_sufile_mark_dirty(struct inode *sufile, __u64 segnum)
 
 	down_write(&NILFS_MDT(sufile)->mi_sem);
 	ret = nilfs_sufile_get_segment_usage_block(sufile, segnum, 0, &bh);
-	if (!ret) {
-		mark_buffer_dirty(bh);
-		nilfs_mdt_mark_dirty(sufile);
-		kaddr = kmap_atomic(bh->b_page);
-		su = nilfs_sufile_block_get_segment_usage(sufile, segnum, bh, kaddr);
-		nilfs_segment_usage_set_dirty(su);
+	if (ret)
+		goto out_sem;
+
+	kaddr = kmap_atomic(bh->b_page);
+	su = nilfs_sufile_block_get_segment_usage(sufile, segnum, bh, kaddr);
+	if (unlikely(nilfs_segment_usage_error(su))) {
+		struct the_nilfs *nilfs = sufile->i_sb->s_fs_info;
+
 		kunmap_atomic(kaddr);
 		brelse(bh);
+		if (nilfs_segment_is_active(nilfs, segnum)) {
+			nilfs_error(sufile->i_sb,
+				    "active segment %llu is erroneous",
+				    (unsigned long long)segnum);
+		} else {
+			/*
+			 * Segments marked erroneous are never allocated by
+			 * nilfs_sufile_alloc(); only active segments, ie,
+			 * the segments indexed by ns_segnum or ns_nextnum,
+			 * can be erroneous here.
+			 */
+			WARN_ON_ONCE(1);
+		}
+		ret = -EIO;
+	} else {
+		nilfs_segment_usage_set_dirty(su);
+		kunmap_atomic(kaddr);
+		mark_buffer_dirty(bh);
+		nilfs_mdt_mark_dirty(sufile);
+		brelse(bh);
 	}
+out_sem:
 	up_write(&NILFS_MDT(sufile)->mi_sem);
 	return ret;
 }
@@ -539,9 +562,14 @@ int nilfs_sufile_set_segment_usage(struct inode *sufile, __u64 segnum,
 
 	kaddr = kmap_atomic(bh->b_page);
 	su = nilfs_sufile_block_get_segment_usage(sufile, segnum, bh, kaddr);
-	WARN_ON(nilfs_segment_usage_error(su));
-	if (modtime)
+	if (modtime) {
+		/*
+		 * Check segusage error and set su_lastmod only when updating
+		 * this entry with a valid timestamp, not for cancellation.
+		 */
+		WARN_ON_ONCE(nilfs_segment_usage_error(su));
 		su->su_lastmod = cpu_to_le64(modtime);
+	}
 	su->su_nblocks = cpu_to_le32(nblocks);
 	kunmap_atomic(kaddr);