diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index d4a33e1b77d7..ac8664db3823 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -4203,7 +4203,7 @@ mem_cgroup_css_alloc(struct cgroup_subsys_state *parent_css)
 	return &memcg->css;
 fail:
 	mem_cgroup_free(memcg);
-	return NULL;
+	return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 }
 
 static int