diff --git a/module/os/freebsd/zfs/zfs_znode.c b/module/os/freebsd/zfs/zfs_znode.c
index 76ae09f811..304bc71f90 100644
--- a/module/os/freebsd/zfs/zfs_znode.c
+++ b/module/os/freebsd/zfs/zfs_znode.c
@@ -448,6 +448,13 @@ zfs_znode_alloc(zfsvfs_t *zfsvfs, dmu_buf_t *db, int blksz,
 	zp->z_vnode = vp;
 	vp->v_data = zp;
 
+	/*
+	 * Acquire the vnode lock before any possible interaction with the
+	 * outside world.  Specifically, there is an error path that calls
+	 * zfs_vnode_forget() and the vnode should be exclusively locked.
+	 */
+	vn_lock(vp, LK_EXCLUSIVE | LK_RETRY);
+
 	ASSERT(!POINTER_IS_VALID(zp->z_zfsvfs));
 
 	zp->z_sa_hdl = NULL;
@@ -464,8 +471,6 @@ zfs_znode_alloc(zfsvfs_t *zfsvfs, dmu_buf_t *db, int blksz,
 	atomic_store_ptr(&zp->z_cached_symlink, NULL);
 #endif
 
-	vp = ZTOV(zp);
-
 	zfs_znode_sa_init(zfsvfs, zp, db, obj_type, hdl);
 
 	SA_ADD_BULK_ATTR(bulk, count, SA_ZPL_MODE(zfsvfs), NULL, &mode, 8);
@@ -535,10 +540,6 @@ zfs_znode_alloc(zfsvfs_t *zfsvfs, dmu_buf_t *db, int blksz,
 	zp->z_zfsvfs = zfsvfs;
 	mutex_exit(&zfsvfs->z_znodes_lock);
 
-	/*
-	 * Acquire vnode lock before making it available to the world.
-	 */
-	vn_lock(vp, LK_EXCLUSIVE | LK_RETRY);
 #if __FreeBSD_version >= 1400077
 	vn_set_state(vp, VSTATE_CONSTRUCTED);
 #endif