diff --git a/util/vfio-helpers.c b/util/vfio-helpers.c
index 66148bd381..00a80431a0 100644
--- a/util/vfio-helpers.c
+++ b/util/vfio-helpers.c
@@ -610,7 +610,7 @@ static IOVAMapping *qemu_vfio_add_mapping(QEMUVFIOState *s,
 
 /* Do the DMA mapping with VFIO. */
 static int qemu_vfio_do_mapping(QEMUVFIOState *s, void *host, size_t size,
-                                uint64_t iova)
+                                uint64_t iova, Error **errp)
 {
     struct vfio_iommu_type1_dma_map dma_map = {
         .argsz = sizeof(dma_map),
@@ -622,7 +622,7 @@ static int qemu_vfio_do_mapping(QEMUVFIOState *s, void *host, size_t size,
     trace_qemu_vfio_do_mapping(s, host, iova, size);
 
     if (ioctl(s->container, VFIO_IOMMU_MAP_DMA, &dma_map)) {
-        error_report("VFIO_MAP_DMA failed: %s", strerror(errno));
+        error_setg_errno(errp, errno, "VFIO_MAP_DMA failed");
         return -errno;
     }
     return 0;
@@ -772,7 +772,7 @@ int qemu_vfio_dma_map(QEMUVFIOState *s, void *host, size_t size,
 
             mapping = qemu_vfio_add_mapping(s, host, size, index + 1, iova0);
             assert(qemu_vfio_verify_mappings(s));
-            ret = qemu_vfio_do_mapping(s, host, size, iova0);
+            ret = qemu_vfio_do_mapping(s, host, size, iova0, errp);
             if (ret < 0) {
                 qemu_vfio_undo_mapping(s, mapping, NULL);
                 return ret;
@@ -782,7 +782,7 @@ int qemu_vfio_dma_map(QEMUVFIOState *s, void *host, size_t size,
             if (!qemu_vfio_find_temp_iova(s, size, &iova0, errp)) {
                 return -ENOMEM;
             }
-            ret = qemu_vfio_do_mapping(s, host, size, iova0);
+            ret = qemu_vfio_do_mapping(s, host, size, iova0, errp);
             if (ret < 0) {
                 return ret;
             }