diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-cache-target.c b/drivers/md/dm-cache-target.c
index 1a5072425c4a..b562bf59124c 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-cache-target.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-cache-target.c
@@ -2544,6 +2544,7 @@ static int cache_create(struct cache_args *ca, struct cache **result)
 	if (IS_ERR(cache->copier)) {
 		*error = "could not create kcopyd client";
 		r = PTR_ERR(cache->copier);
+		cache->copier = NULL;
 		goto bad;
 	}