diff --git a/src/conf/domain_conf.c b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
index 28ae7c394d..a8b5dfd655 100644
--- a/src/conf/domain_conf.c
+++ b/src/conf/domain_conf.c
@@ -9924,6 +9924,7 @@ virDomainDefMaybeAddController(virDomainDefPtr def,
 
     if (VIR_APPEND_ELEMENT(def->controllers, def->ncontrollers, cont) < 0) {
         VIR_FREE(cont);
+        virReportOOMError();
         return -1;
     }