diff --git a/src/libsystemd/sd-json/sd-json.c b/src/libsystemd/sd-json/sd-json.c
index 98ffe4db54..835ba56bed 100644
--- a/src/libsystemd/sd-json/sd-json.c
+++ b/src/libsystemd/sd-json/sd-json.c
@@ -4098,7 +4098,7 @@ _public_ int sd_json_buildv(sd_json_variant **ret, va_list ap) {
                                                         SD_JSON_BUILD_PAIR("realtime", SD_JSON_BUILD_UNSIGNED(ts->realtime)),
                                                         SD_JSON_BUILD_PAIR("monotonic", SD_JSON_BUILD_UNSIGNED(ts->monotonic)));
                                         if (r < 0)
-                                                return r;
+                                                goto finish;
                                 } else
                                         add = JSON_VARIANT_MAGIC_NULL;
                         }