diff --git a/fs/btrfs/ctree.c b/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
index 118ad4d2cbbe..2eb4e03080ac 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/ctree.c
@@ -451,8 +451,16 @@ static noinline int update_ref_for_cow(struct btrfs_trans_handle *trans,
 	}
 
 	owner = btrfs_header_owner(buf);
-	BUG_ON(owner == BTRFS_TREE_RELOC_OBJECTID &&
-	       !(flags & BTRFS_BLOCK_FLAG_FULL_BACKREF));
+	if (unlikely(owner == BTRFS_TREE_RELOC_OBJECTID &&
+		     !(flags & BTRFS_BLOCK_FLAG_FULL_BACKREF))) {
+		btrfs_crit(fs_info,
+"found tree block at bytenr %llu level %d root %llu refs %llu flags %llx without full backref flag set",
+			   buf->start, btrfs_header_level(buf),
+			   btrfs_root_id(root), refs, flags);
+		ret = -EUCLEAN;
+		btrfs_abort_transaction(trans, ret);
+		return ret;
+	}
 
 	if (refs > 1) {
 		if ((owner == root->root_key.objectid ||