diff --git a/security/device_cgroup.c b/security/device_cgroup.c
index 5ef7e5240563..ea014df89428 100644
--- a/security/device_cgroup.c
+++ b/security/device_cgroup.c
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ static int propagate_exception(struct dev_cgroup *devcg_root,
 		    devcg->behavior == DEVCG_DEFAULT_ALLOW) {
 			rc = dev_exception_add(devcg, ex);
 			if (rc)
-				break;
+				return rc;
 		} else {
 			/*
 			 * in the other possible cases: