diff --git a/tools/perf/util/sort.c b/tools/perf/util/sort.c
index 43d1d410854a..4027906fd3e3 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/sort.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/sort.c
@@ -2788,7 +2788,7 @@ static char *prefix_if_not_in(const char *pre, char *str)
 		return str;
 
 	if (asprintf(&n, "%s,%s", pre, str) < 0)
-		return NULL;
+		n = NULL;
 
 	free(str);
 	return n;