diff --git a/net/sunrpc/cache.c b/net/sunrpc/cache.c
index e20968aac68a11d566a77ced2392edc2e0e4986f..1e72cc9559319a5cf43244f1dae0b5fc99587d29 100644
--- a/net/sunrpc/cache.c
+++ b/net/sunrpc/cache.c
@@ -578,10 +578,9 @@ static int cache_wait_req(struct cache_req *req, struct cache_head *item)
 	dreq->revisit = cache_restart_thread;
 
 	ret = setup_deferral(dreq, item);
-	if (ret)
-		return ret;
 
-	if (wait_for_completion_interruptible_timeout(
+	if (ret ||
+	    wait_for_completion_interruptible_timeout(
 		    &sleeper.completion, req->thread_wait) <= 0) {
 		/* The completion wasn't completed, so we need
 		 * to clean up