diff --git a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
index 875c9480..35bc3a5d 100644
--- a/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
+++ b/src/libostree/ostree-repo.c
@@ -5012,7 +5012,7 @@ _ostree_repo_allocate_tmpdir (int tmpdir_dfd,
   if (!glnx_dirfd_iterator_init_at (tmpdir_dfd, ".", FALSE, &dfd_iter, error))
     return FALSE;
 
-  while (TRUE)
+  while (tmpdir_name == NULL)
     {
       gs_dirfd_iterator_cleanup GSDirFdIterator child_dfd_iter = { 0, };
       struct dirent *dent;