diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
index 854a9b86da3cc01a88b9b50af5f8430b36ff3d2b..a652f29db8045ca5316e81747c8033ec1da7adad 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_capabilities.c
@@ -2285,7 +2285,7 @@ virQEMUCapsProbeQMPMachineTypes(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
     size_t defIdx = 0;
 
     if ((nmachines = qemuMonitorGetMachines(mon, &machines)) < 0)
-        goto cleanup;
+        return -1;
 
     if (VIR_ALLOC_N(qemuCaps->machineTypes, nmachines) < 0)
         goto cleanup;