diff --git a/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayoutdev.c b/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayoutdev.c
index eb370460ce203c11c8461e88115cc0fab9c417fa..add0e5a70bd60f70479452ddc8a0ccf853c2c87f 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayoutdev.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayoutdev.c
@@ -418,6 +418,8 @@ nfs4_ff_layout_prepare_ds(struct pnfs_layout_segment *lseg, u32 ds_idx,
 				pnfs_error_mark_layout_for_return(ino, lseg);
 		} else
 			pnfs_error_mark_layout_for_return(ino, lseg);
+		ds = NULL;
+		goto out;
 	}
 out_update_creds:
 	if (ff_layout_update_mirror_cred(mirror, ds))