diff --git a/fs/proc/namespaces.c b/fs/proc/namespaces.c
index 2f46f1396744..ea6ec61a0430 100644
--- a/fs/proc/namespaces.c
+++ b/fs/proc/namespaces.c
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ static const char *proc_ns_get_link(struct dentry *dentry,
 	const struct proc_ns_operations *ns_ops = PROC_I(inode)->ns_ops;
 	struct task_struct *task;
 	struct path ns_path;
-	int error = -EACCES;
+	int error;
 
 	if (!dentry)
 		return ERR_PTR(-ECHILD);
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ static const char *proc_ns_get_link(struct dentry *dentry,
 	if (error)
 		goto out_put_task;
 
+	error = -EACCES;
 	if (!ptrace_may_access(task, PTRACE_MODE_READ_FSCREDS))
 		goto out;
 
@@ -90,6 +91,7 @@ static int proc_ns_readlink(struct dentry *dentry, char __user *buffer, int bufl
 	if (res)
 		goto out_put_task;
 
+	res = -EACCES;
 	if (ptrace_may_access(task, PTRACE_MODE_READ_FSCREDS)) {
 		res = ns_get_name(name, sizeof(name), task, ns_ops);
 		if (res >= 0)