diff --git a/net/mptcp/protocol.c b/net/mptcp/protocol.c
index 0098e2830931..8dc25ef1542c 100644
--- a/net/mptcp/protocol.c
+++ b/net/mptcp/protocol.c
@@ -2459,7 +2459,7 @@ static int mptcp_recvmsg(struct sock *sk, struct msghdr *msg, size_t len,
 		mptcp_cleanup_rbuf(msk, copied);
 		err = sk_wait_data(sk, &timeo, last);
 		if (err < 0) {
-			err = copied ? : err;
+			copied = copied ? : err;
 			goto out_err;
 		}
 	}