diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-cache-target.c b/drivers/md/dm-cache-target.c
index 10744091e6cabb5f6bb55e59709eb4ba0350a98b..6feaba24fcac800e72cb50ad87df4a26a37bc4bd 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-cache-target.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-cache-target.c
@@ -1971,6 +1971,7 @@ static int cache_create(struct cache_args *ca, struct cache **result)
 	atomic_set(&cache->nr_migrations, 0);
 	init_waitqueue_head(&cache->migration_wait);
 
+	r = -ENOMEM;
 	cache->nr_dirty = 0;
 	cache->dirty_bitset = alloc_bitset(from_cblock(cache->cache_size));
 	if (!cache->dirty_bitset) {