diff --git a/drivers/staging/slicoss/slicoss.c b/drivers/staging/slicoss/slicoss.c
index 945428084914207d7e981603f07375192d4bff0f..f6af3fe46c5e9c34d627ed4f26b8aa07797e0b5d 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/slicoss/slicoss.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/slicoss/slicoss.c
@@ -3667,6 +3667,8 @@ static u32 slic_card_locate(struct adapter *adapter)
 	if (!physcard) {
 		/* no structure allocated for this physical card yet */
 		physcard = kzalloc(sizeof(struct physcard), GFP_ATOMIC);
+		if (!physcard)
+			return -ENOMEM;
 
 		physcard->next = slic_global.phys_card;
 		slic_global.phys_card = physcard;