diff --git a/io_uring/openclose.c b/io_uring/openclose.c
index 10ca57f5bd24..e3fae26e025d 100644
--- a/io_uring/openclose.c
+++ b/io_uring/openclose.c
@@ -35,9 +35,11 @@ static bool io_openat_force_async(struct io_open *open)
 {
 	/*
 	 * Don't bother trying for O_TRUNC, O_CREAT, or O_TMPFILE open,
-	 * it'll always -EAGAIN
+	 * it'll always -EAGAIN. Note that we test for __O_TMPFILE because
+	 * O_TMPFILE includes O_DIRECTORY, which isn't a flag we need to force
+	 * async for.
 	 */
-	return open->how.flags & (O_TRUNC | O_CREAT | O_TMPFILE);
+	return open->how.flags & (O_TRUNC | O_CREAT | __O_TMPFILE);
 }
 
 static int __io_openat_prep(struct io_kiocb *req, const struct io_uring_sqe *sqe)