diff --git a/mercurial/localrepo.py b/mercurial/localrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/localrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/localrepo.py
@@ -1456,7 +1456,7 @@ class localrepository:
         if self.ui.configbool(b'devel', b'all-warnings') or self.ui.configbool(
             b'devel', b'check-locks'
         ):
-            if util.safehasattr(self.svfs, b'vfs'):  # this is filtervfs
+            if util.safehasattr(self.svfs, 'vfs'):  # this is filtervfs
                 self.svfs.vfs.audit = self._getsvfsward(self.svfs.vfs.audit)
             else:  # standard vfs
                 self.svfs.audit = self._getsvfsward(self.svfs.audit)