diff --git a/tools/bpf/bpftool/map.c b/tools/bpf/bpftool/map.c
index d809b075e734..4b65edf74859 100644
--- a/tools/bpf/bpftool/map.c
+++ b/tools/bpf/bpftool/map.c
@@ -856,6 +856,21 @@ map_dump(int fd, struct bpf_map_info *info, json_writer_t *wtr,
 		}
 	}
 
+	/* Fail early to avoid an empty dump if map type cannot be iterated */
+	if (bpf_map_get_next_key(fd, NULL, key) && errno != ENOENT) {
+		const char *map_type_str, *err_str;
+
+		err_str = bpf_strerror(errno);
+		map_type_str = libbpf_bpf_map_type_str(info->type);
+		if (map_type_str)
+			p_err("can't dump %s map: %s", map_type_str, err_str);
+		else
+			p_err("can't dump map of type %u: %s", info->type,
+			      err_str);
+		err = -1;
+		goto exit_free;
+	}
+
 	if (wtr) {
 		err = get_map_kv_btf(info, &btf);
 		if (err) {
@@ -883,8 +898,11 @@ map_dump(int fd, struct bpf_map_info *info, json_writer_t *wtr,
 	while (true) {
 		err = bpf_map_get_next_key(fd, prev_key, key);
 		if (err) {
-			if (errno == ENOENT)
+			if (errno == ENOENT) {
 				err = 0;
+				break;
+			}
+			p_err("can't get next key: %s", bpf_strerror(errno));
 			break;
 		}
 		if (!dump_map_elem(fd, key, value, info, btf, wtr,
@@ -897,7 +915,7 @@ map_dump(int fd, struct bpf_map_info *info, json_writer_t *wtr,
 		jsonw_end_array(wtr);	/* elements */
 		if (show_header)
 			jsonw_end_object(wtr);	/* map object */
-	} else {
+	} else if (!err) {
 		printf("Found %u element%s\n", num_elems,
 		       num_elems != 1 ? "s" : "");
 	}