diff --git a/mm/hugetlb.c b/mm/hugetlb.c
index f94c673f1e19..e2f7bc8be1e8 100644
--- a/mm/hugetlb.c
+++ b/mm/hugetlb.c
@@ -5113,6 +5113,7 @@ int hugetlb_reserve_pages(struct inode *inode,
 
 		if (unlikely(add < 0)) {
 			hugetlb_acct_memory(h, -gbl_reserve);
+			ret = add;
 			goto out_put_pages;
 		} else if (unlikely(chg > add)) {
 			/*