diff --git a/src/util/src/tnote.c b/src/util/src/tnote.c
index 91d586322d47b97c02e981aa3e324391d431fa0a..31ed6e2f7bded579b75066e590c68b8bc8580a3e 100644
--- a/src/util/src/tnote.c
+++ b/src/util/src/tnote.c
@@ -87,6 +87,10 @@ void *taosThreadToOpenNewNote(void *param)
     umask(0);
 
     int fd = open(name, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC, S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO);
+    if (fd < 0) {
+      return NULL;
+    }
+
     taosLockNote(fd, pNote);
     lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET);