diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_probe.c b/kernel/trace/trace_probe.c
index 804442b2f7d2..88518c5322a5 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_probe.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_probe.c
@@ -2287,7 +2287,6 @@ const char **traceprobe_expand_meta_args(int argc, const char *argv[],
 					 int *new_argc, char *buf, int bufsize,
 					 struct traceprobe_parse_context *ctx)
 {
-	const struct btf_param *params = NULL;
 	int i, j, n, used, ret, args_idx = -1;
 	const char **new_argv __free(kfree) = NULL;
 
@@ -2305,7 +2304,7 @@ const char **traceprobe_expand_meta_args(int argc, const char *argv[],
 		if (args_idx != -1) {
 			/* $arg* requires BTF info */
 			trace_probe_log_err(0, NOSUP_BTFARG);
-			return (const char **)params;
+			return ERR_PTR(-EOPNOTSUPP);
 		}
 		*new_argc = argc;
 		return NULL;