diff --git a/fs/btrfs/volumes.c b/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
index 19450bc53632..530a2fcea1ef 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/volumes.c
@@ -2061,8 +2061,10 @@ int btrfs_balance(struct btrfs_root *dev_root)
 
 	/* step two, relocate all the chunks */
 	path = btrfs_alloc_path();
-	BUG_ON(!path);
-
+	if (!path) {
+		ret = -ENOMEM;
+		goto error;
+	}
 	key.objectid = BTRFS_FIRST_CHUNK_TREE_OBJECTID;
 	key.offset = (u64)-1;
 	key.type = BTRFS_CHUNK_ITEM_KEY;