diff --git a/src/util/virstoragefile.c b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
index 020c69def2fc9e30dc1a90c26519baf120a82c01..6b0af521f9162aecd190fbb265ca1bfebbe661c8 100644
--- a/src/util/virstoragefile.c
+++ b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
@@ -2888,6 +2888,8 @@ virStorageSourceParseBackingJSONGluster(virStorageSourcePtr src,
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_INVALID_ARG, "%s",
                        _("at least 1 server is necessary in "
                          "JSON backing definition for gluster volume"));
+
+        return -1;
     }
 
     if (VIR_ALLOC_N(src->hosts, nservers) < 0)