diff --git a/src/barebox-state/state.c b/src/barebox-state/state.c
index a0a3901..9c4edb3 100644
--- a/src/barebox-state/state.c
+++ b/src/barebox-state/state.c
@@ -577,6 +577,7 @@
 		partition_node = of_parse_phandle(node, "backend", 0);
 		if (!partition_node) {
 			dev_err(&state->dev, "Cannot resolve \"backend\" phandle\n");
+			ret = -EINVAL;
 			goto out_release_state;
 		}