diff --git a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/ptlrpc/sec.c b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/ptlrpc/sec.c
index a7416cd9ac71..12f02ed6a91d 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/ptlrpc/sec.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/lustre/lustre/ptlrpc/sec.c
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ int sptlrpc_req_get_ctx(struct ptlrpc_request *req)
 
 	if (!req->rq_cli_ctx) {
 		CERROR("req %p: fail to get context\n", req);
-		return -ENOMEM;
+		return -ECONNREFUSED;
 	}
 
 	return 0;