diff --git a/drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_config.c b/drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_config.c
index f3c2de04b20d..5b0f09b211be 100644
--- a/drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_config.c
+++ b/drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci_config.c
@@ -1576,7 +1576,7 @@ static int vfio_ecap_init(struct vfio_pci_device *vdev)
 			if (len == 0xFF) {
 				len = vfio_ext_cap_len(vdev, ecap, epos);
 				if (len < 0)
-					return ret;
+					return len;
 			}
 		}