diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-ioctl.c b/drivers/md/dm-ioctl.c
index b92ec3efff01..ac77dc0ca225 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-ioctl.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-ioctl.c
@@ -1938,8 +1938,11 @@ static int target_message(struct file *filp, struct dm_ioctl *param, size_t para
 		goto out_argv;
 
 	table = dm_get_live_table(md, &srcu_idx);
-	if (!table)
+	if (!table) {
+		DMERR("The device has no table.");
+		r = -EINVAL;
 		goto out_table;
+	}
 
 	if (dm_deleting_md(md)) {
 		r = -ENXIO;