diff --git a/src/basic/strv.c b/src/basic/strv.c
index 90f0b8c741..d5169467da 100644
--- a/src/basic/strv.c
+++ b/src/basic/strv.c
@@ -784,5 +784,5 @@ rollback:
                 free(nl[j]);
 
         nl[k] = NULL;
-        return NULL;
+        return -ENOMEM;
 }