diff --git a/src/app/rpmostree-compose-builtin-tree.c b/src/app/rpmostree-compose-builtin-tree.c
index fb7db09b..b51d9fce 100644
--- a/src/app/rpmostree-compose-builtin-tree.c
+++ b/src/app/rpmostree-compose-builtin-tree.c
@@ -350,6 +350,9 @@ install_packages (RpmOstreeTreeComposeContext  *self,
        * be important for the ostree-rojig work.
        */
       g_autoptr(OstreeSePolicy) sepolicy = ostree_sepolicy_new_at (rootfs_dfd, cancellable, error);
+      if (sepolicy == NULL)
+        return FALSE;
+
       rpmostree_context_set_sepolicy (self->corectx, sepolicy);
 
       if (!rpmostree_context_force_relabel (self->corectx, cancellable, error))