diff --git a/src/core/execute-serialize.c b/src/core/execute-serialize.c
index 953b0d9894..55a5216042 100644
--- a/src/core/execute-serialize.c
+++ b/src/core/execute-serialize.c
@@ -3278,7 +3278,7 @@ static int exec_context_deserialize(ExecContext *c, FILE *f) {
 
                                         r = extract_first_word(&val, &options, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE);
                                         if (r < 0)
-                                                return -r;
+                                                return r;
 
                                         if (isempty(options) || streq(options, "rbind"))
                                                 rbind = true;
@@ -3337,7 +3337,7 @@ static int exec_context_deserialize(ExecContext *c, FILE *f) {
 
                                         r = extract_first_word(&val, &options, NULL, EXTRACT_UNQUOTE);
                                         if (r < 0)
-                                                return -r;
+                                                return r;
 
                                         if (isempty(options) || streq(options, "rbind"))
                                                 rbind = true;