diff --git a/fs/proc/namespaces.c b/fs/proc/namespaces.c
index f18d6d58bf79..781dec5bd682 100644
--- a/fs/proc/namespaces.c
+++ b/fs/proc/namespaces.c
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@ static struct dentry *proc_ns_dir_lookup(struct inode *dir,
 		if (!memcmp(dentry->d_name.name, (*entry)->name, len))
 			break;
 	}
+	error = ERR_PTR(-ENOENT);
 	if (entry > last)
 		goto out;