diff --git a/fs/ext4/namei.c b/fs/ext4/namei.c
index c0cabf172020..cc49ae04a6f6 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/namei.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/namei.c
@@ -3054,7 +3054,7 @@ static struct dentry *ext4_mkdir(struct mnt_idmap *idmap, struct inode *dir,
 out_retry:
 	if (err == -ENOSPC && ext4_should_retry_alloc(dir->i_sb, &retries))
 		goto retry;
-	return ERR_PTR(err);
+	return err ? ERR_PTR(err) : NULL;
 }
 
 /*