diff --git a/fs/cachefiles/namei.c b/fs/cachefiles/namei.c
index 1b83ed0e0a63..2937db690b40 100644
--- a/fs/cachefiles/namei.c
+++ b/fs/cachefiles/namei.c
@@ -130,6 +130,8 @@ struct dentry *cachefiles_get_directory(struct cachefiles_cache *cache,
 		ret = cachefiles_inject_write_error();
 		if (ret == 0) {
 			subdir = vfs_mkdir(&nop_mnt_idmap, d_inode(dir), subdir, 0700, NULL);
+			if (IS_ERR(subdir))
+				ret = PTR_ERR(subdir);
 		} else {
 			end_creating(subdir);
 			subdir = ERR_PTR(ret);