diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c
index 061f60fe452f773e233c0bffc68b0c614db905a4..bb813d06114a3d9fbaa3995c8a5d1e64c2bfa886 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ int __cpu_up(unsigned int cpu, struct task_struct *idle)
 		panic("CPU%u detected unsupported configuration\n", cpu);
 	}
 
-	return ret;
+	return -EIO;
 }
 
 static void init_gic_priority_masking(void)