diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/lightnvm.c b/drivers/nvme/host/lightnvm.c
index e1ef8e9b41cb04606a8f85a9df3b8f269d84c886..be8541335e31edb0d621aa13e0dd3e74670fa168 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/lightnvm.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/lightnvm.c
@@ -509,7 +509,7 @@ static int nvme_nvm_submit_io(struct nvm_dev *dev, struct nvm_rq *rqd)
 	rq = nvme_alloc_request(q, (struct nvme_command *)cmd, 0, NVME_QID_ANY);
 	if (IS_ERR(rq)) {
 		kfree(cmd);
-		return -ENOMEM;
+		return PTR_ERR(rq);
 	}
 	rq->cmd_flags &= ~REQ_FAILFAST_DRIVER;