diff --git a/ctdb/common/ctdb_call.c b/ctdb/common/ctdb_call.c
index c6dff1e5c0d..a2219403a25 100644
--- a/ctdb/common/ctdb_call.c
+++ b/ctdb/common/ctdb_call.c
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ struct ctdb_call_state *ctdb_call_local_send(struct ctdb_context *ctdb,
 	int ret;
 
 	state = talloc_zero(ctdb, struct ctdb_call_state);
-	CTDB_NO_MEMORY(ctdb, state);
+	CTDB_NO_MEMORY_NULL(ctdb, state);
 
 	state->state = CTDB_CALL_DONE;
 	state->node = ctdb->nodes[ctdb->vnn];
@@ -213,11 +213,11 @@ struct ctdb_call_state *ctdb_call_send(struct ctdb_context *ctdb,
 	}
 
 	state = talloc_zero(ctdb, struct ctdb_call_state);
-	CTDB_NO_MEMORY(ctdb, state);
+	CTDB_NO_MEMORY_NULL(ctdb, state);
 
 	len = sizeof(*state->c) + key.dsize + (call_data?call_data->dsize:0);
 	state->c = talloc_size(ctdb, len);
-	CTDB_NO_MEMORY(ctdb, state->c);
+	CTDB_NO_MEMORY_NULL(ctdb, state->c);
 
 	state->c->hdr.length    = len;
 	state->c->hdr.operation = CTDB_REQ_CALL;
diff --git a/ctdb/include/ctdb_private.h b/ctdb/include/ctdb_private.h
index e2f851749de..32f258b2bf8 100644
--- a/ctdb/include/ctdb_private.h
+++ b/ctdb/include/ctdb_private.h
@@ -94,6 +94,10 @@ struct ctdb_context {
           ctdb_set_error(ctdb, "Out of memory at %s:%d", __FILE__, __LINE__); \
 	  return -1; }} while (0)
 
+#define CTDB_NO_MEMORY_NULL(ctdb, p) do { if (!(p)) { \
+          ctdb_set_error(ctdb, "Out of memory at %s:%d", __FILE__, __LINE__); \
+	  return NULL; }} while (0)
+
 /* arbitrary maximum timeout for ctdb operations */
 #define CTDB_REQ_TIMEOUT 10