diff --git a/fs/kernfs/inode.c b/fs/kernfs/inode.c
index 756dd56..f97e1f7 100644
--- a/fs/kernfs/inode.c
+++ b/fs/kernfs/inode.c
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@
 	if (!attrs)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
-	return simple_xattr_remove(&attrs->xattrs, name);
+	return simple_xattr_set(&attrs->xattrs, name, NULL, 0, XATTR_REPLACE);
 }
 
 ssize_t kernfs_iop_getxattr(struct dentry *dentry, const char *name, void *buf,