diff --git a/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayoutdev.c b/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayoutdev.c
index eb37046..add0e5a7 100644
--- a/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayoutdev.c
+++ b/fs/nfs/flexfilelayout/flexfilelayoutdev.c
@@ -418,6 +418,8 @@
 				pnfs_error_mark_layout_for_return(ino, lseg);
 		} else
 			pnfs_error_mark_layout_for_return(ino, lseg);
+		ds = NULL;
+		goto out;
 	}
 out_update_creds:
 	if (ff_layout_update_mirror_cred(mirror, ds))