diff --git a/src/shared/firewall-util-nft.c b/src/shared/firewall-util-nft.c
index 8adc7f8faa..39f9188de2 100644
--- a/src/shared/firewall-util-nft.c
+++ b/src/shared/firewall-util-nft.c
@@ -818,7 +818,7 @@ int fw_nftables_init_full(FirewallContext *ctx, bool init_tables) {
                 if (socket_ipv6_is_supported()) {
                         r = fw_nftables_init_family(nfnl, AF_INET6);
                         if (r < 0)
-                                log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to init ipv6 NAT: %m");
+                                return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to init ipv6 NAT: %m");
                 }
         }