diff --git a/kmod/src/counters.h b/kmod/src/counters.h
index d3e1b175..bce86418 100644
--- a/kmod/src/counters.h
+++ b/kmod/src/counters.h
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@
 	EXPAND_COUNTER(radix_inconsistent_eio)			\
 	EXPAND_COUNTER(radix_inconsistent_ref)			\
 	EXPAND_COUNTER(radix_merge)				\
+	EXPAND_COUNTER(radix_merge_bad_clean_input)		\
 	EXPAND_COUNTER(radix_merge_empty)			\
 	EXPAND_COUNTER(radix_undo_ref)				\
 	EXPAND_COUNTER(radix_walk)				\
diff --git a/kmod/src/radix.c b/kmod/src/radix.c
index 4f636bf7..0e734ff5 100644
--- a/kmod/src/radix.c
+++ b/kmod/src/radix.c
@@ -1392,6 +1392,21 @@ wrapped:
 			goto out;
 		src_rdx = src_bl->data;
 
+		/*
+		 * If we're searching the avail allocator tree then we
+		 * must be sure that we copy leaves after change
+		 * allocations have been applied.  If we had a read-only
+		 * copy of the allocator leaf before it was cowed we
+		 * could merge bits that were used for dirty block
+		 * allocations by the change.  By not resetting the
+		 * change the repeated lookup will find the current
+		 * dirty leaf block.
+		 */
+		if (src == inp && inp_bl != src_bl) {
+			scoutfs_inc_counter(sb, radix_merge_bad_clean_input);
+			goto wrapped;
+		}
+
 		ret = get_leaf(sb, alloc, wri, &chg, dst, GLF_DIRTY, bit,
 			       &leaf_bit, &dst_bl);
 		if (ret < 0)