diff --git a/mm/mempolicy.c b/mm/mempolicy.c
index ab51132547b8..4580ca59b9f8 100644
--- a/mm/mempolicy.c
+++ b/mm/mempolicy.c
@@ -1390,7 +1390,7 @@ static int get_nodes(nodemask_t *nodes, const unsigned long __user *nmask,
 	--maxnode;
 	nodes_clear(*nodes);
 	if (maxnode == 0 || !nmask)
-		return 0;
+		return -EINVAL;
 	if (maxnode > PAGE_SIZE*BITS_PER_BYTE)
 		return -EINVAL;