diff --git a/include/sys/zfs_znode.h b/include/sys/zfs_znode.h
index 8af5798ba8..0b75d52955 100644
--- a/include/sys/zfs_znode.h
+++ b/include/sys/zfs_znode.h
@@ -209,6 +209,7 @@ typedef struct znode {
 	zfs_acl_t	*z_acl_cached;	/* cached acl */
 	krwlock_t	z_xattr_lock;	/* xattr data lock */
 	nvlist_t	*z_xattr_cached;/* cached xattrs */
+	struct znode	*z_xattr_parent;/* xattr parent znode */
 	list_node_t	z_link_node;	/* all znodes in fs link */
 	sa_handle_t	*z_sa_hdl;	/* handle to sa data */
 	boolean_t	z_is_sa;	/* are we native sa? */
diff --git a/module/zfs/zfs_acl.c b/module/zfs/zfs_acl.c
index 98c0019503..db6331ea59 100644
--- a/module/zfs/zfs_acl.c
+++ b/module/zfs/zfs_acl.c
@@ -2453,33 +2453,53 @@ zfs_zaccess(znode_t *zp, int mode, int flags, boolean_t skipaclchk, cred_t *cr)
 {
 	uint32_t	working_mode;
 	int		error;
-	int		is_attr;
 	boolean_t	check_privs;
-	znode_t		*xzp;
 	znode_t		*check_zp = zp;
 	mode_t		needed_bits;
 	uid_t		owner;
 
-	is_attr = ((zp->z_pflags & ZFS_XATTR) && S_ISDIR(ZTOI(zp)->i_mode));
-
 	/*
 	 * If attribute then validate against base file
 	 */
-	if (is_attr) {
+	if ((zp->z_pflags & ZFS_XATTR) && S_ISDIR(ZTOI(zp)->i_mode)) {
 		uint64_t	parent;
 
-		if ((error = sa_lookup(zp->z_sa_hdl,
-		    SA_ZPL_PARENT(ZTOZSB(zp)), &parent,
-		    sizeof (parent))) != 0)
-			return (error);
+		rw_enter(&zp->z_xattr_lock, RW_READER);
+		if (zp->z_xattr_parent) {
+			check_zp = zp->z_xattr_parent;
+			rw_exit(&zp->z_xattr_lock);
 
-		if ((error = zfs_zget(ZTOZSB(zp),
-		    parent, &xzp)) != 0)	{
-			return (error);
+			/*
+			 * Verify a lookup yields the same znode.
+			 */
+			ASSERT3S(sa_lookup(zp->z_sa_hdl, SA_ZPL_PARENT(
+			    ZTOZSB(zp)), &parent, sizeof (parent)), ==, 0);
+			ASSERT3U(check_zp->z_id, ==, parent);
+		} else {
+			rw_exit(&zp->z_xattr_lock);
+
+			error = sa_lookup(zp->z_sa_hdl, SA_ZPL_PARENT(
+			    ZTOZSB(zp)), &parent, sizeof (parent));
+			if (error)
+				return (error);
+
+			/*
+			 * Cache the lookup on the parent file znode as
+			 * zp->z_xattr_parent and hold a reference.  This
+			 * effectively pins the parent in memory until all
+			 * child xattr znodes have been destroyed and
+			 * release their references in zfs_inode_destroy().
+			 */
+			error = zfs_zget(ZTOZSB(zp), parent, &check_zp);
+			if (error)
+			        return (error);
+
+			rw_enter(&zp->z_xattr_lock, RW_WRITER);
+			if (zp->z_xattr_parent == NULL)
+				zp->z_xattr_parent = check_zp;
+			rw_exit(&zp->z_xattr_lock);
 		}
 
-		check_zp = xzp;
-
 		/*
 		 * fixup mode to map to xattr perms
 		 */
@@ -2521,15 +2541,11 @@ zfs_zaccess(znode_t *zp, int mode, int flags, boolean_t skipaclchk, cred_t *cr)
 
 	if ((error = zfs_zaccess_common(check_zp, mode, &working_mode,
 	    &check_privs, skipaclchk, cr)) == 0) {
-		if (is_attr)
-			iput(ZTOI(xzp));
 		return (secpolicy_vnode_access2(cr, ZTOI(zp), owner,
 		    needed_bits, needed_bits));
 	}
 
 	if (error && !check_privs) {
-		if (is_attr)
-			iput(ZTOI(xzp));
 		return (error);
 	}
 
@@ -2590,10 +2606,6 @@ zfs_zaccess(znode_t *zp, int mode, int flags, boolean_t skipaclchk, cred_t *cr)
 		    needed_bits, needed_bits);
 	}
 
-
-	if (is_attr)
-		iput(ZTOI(xzp));
-
 	return (error);
 }
 
diff --git a/module/zfs/zfs_znode.c b/module/zfs/zfs_znode.c
index 885d224590..8074f1d008 100644
--- a/module/zfs/zfs_znode.c
+++ b/module/zfs/zfs_znode.c
@@ -116,6 +116,7 @@ zfs_znode_cache_constructor(void *buf, void *arg, int kmflags)
 	zp->z_dirlocks = NULL;
 	zp->z_acl_cached = NULL;
 	zp->z_xattr_cached = NULL;
+	zp->z_xattr_parent = NULL;
 	zp->z_moved = 0;
 	return (0);
 }
@@ -138,6 +139,7 @@ zfs_znode_cache_destructor(void *buf, void *arg)
 	ASSERT(zp->z_dirlocks == NULL);
 	ASSERT(zp->z_acl_cached == NULL);
 	ASSERT(zp->z_xattr_cached == NULL);
+	ASSERT(zp->z_xattr_parent == NULL);
 }
 
 void
@@ -286,6 +288,11 @@ zfs_inode_destroy(struct inode *ip)
 		zp->z_xattr_cached = NULL;
 	}
 
+	if (zp->z_xattr_parent) {
+		iput(ZTOI(zp->z_xattr_parent));
+		zp->z_xattr_parent = NULL;
+	}
+
 	kmem_cache_free(znode_cache, zp);
 }
 
@@ -359,6 +366,7 @@ zfs_znode_alloc(zfs_sb_t *zsb, dmu_buf_t *db, int blksz,
 	ASSERT(zp->z_dirlocks == NULL);
 	ASSERT3P(zp->z_acl_cached, ==, NULL);
 	ASSERT3P(zp->z_xattr_cached, ==, NULL);
+	ASSERT3P(zp->z_xattr_parent, ==, NULL);
 	zp->z_moved = 0;
 	zp->z_sa_hdl = NULL;
 	zp->z_unlinked = 0;
@@ -394,6 +402,14 @@ zfs_znode_alloc(zfs_sb_t *zsb, dmu_buf_t *db, int blksz,
 		goto error;
 	}
 
+	/*
+	 * xattr znodes hold a reference on their unique parent
+	 */
+	if (dip && zp->z_pflags & ZFS_XATTR) {
+		igrab(dip);
+		zp->z_xattr_parent = ITOZ(dip);
+	}
+
 	ip->i_ino = obj;
 	zfs_inode_update(zp);
 	zfs_inode_set_ops(zsb, ip);
@@ -401,12 +417,8 @@ zfs_znode_alloc(zfs_sb_t *zsb, dmu_buf_t *db, int blksz,
 	if (insert_inode_locked(ip))
 		goto error;
 
-	if (dentry) {
-		if (zpl_xattr_security_init(ip, dip, &dentry->d_name))
-			goto error;
-
+	if (dentry)
 		d_instantiate(dentry, ip);
-	}
 
 	mutex_enter(&zsb->z_znodes_lock);
 	list_insert_tail(&zsb->z_all_znodes, zp);
diff --git a/module/zfs/zpl_inode.c b/module/zfs/zpl_inode.c
index bb389f8375..6175c2e93f 100644
--- a/module/zfs/zpl_inode.c
+++ b/module/zfs/zpl_inode.c
@@ -92,8 +92,12 @@ zpl_create(struct inode *dir, struct dentry *dentry, zpl_umode_t mode,
 	vap = kmem_zalloc(sizeof(vattr_t), KM_SLEEP);
 	zpl_vap_init(vap, dir, dentry, mode, cr);
 
-	error = -zfs_create(dir, (char *)dentry->d_name.name,
-	    vap, 0, mode, &ip, cr, 0, NULL);
+	error = -zfs_create(dir, dname(dentry), vap, 0, mode, &ip, cr, 0, NULL);
+	if (error == 0) {
+		error = zpl_xattr_security_init(ip, dir, &dentry->d_name);
+		VERIFY3S(error, ==, 0);
+	}
+
 	kmem_free(vap, sizeof(vattr_t));
 	crfree(cr);
 	ASSERT3S(error, <=, 0);