diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/af/rvu_nix.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/af/rvu_nix.c
index 603361c94786..09892703cfd4 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/af/rvu_nix.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/marvell/octeontx2/af/rvu_nix.c
@@ -4832,6 +4832,8 @@ static int nix_setup_ipolicers(struct rvu *rvu,
 		ipolicer->ref_count = devm_kcalloc(rvu->dev,
 						   ipolicer->band_prof.max,
 						   sizeof(u16), GFP_KERNEL);
+		if (!ipolicer->ref_count)
+			return -ENOMEM;
 	}
 
 	/* Set policer timeunit to 2us ie  (19 + 1) * 100 nsec = 2us */