diff --git a/include/monitor/monitor.h b/include/monitor/monitor.h
index 42d867155b..1c1f56f36b 100644
--- a/include/monitor/monitor.h
+++ b/include/monitor/monitor.h
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ int monitor_read_block_device_key(Monitor *mon, const char *device,
 
 int monitor_get_fd(Monitor *mon, const char *fdname, Error **errp);
 int monitor_handle_fd_param(Monitor *mon, const char *fdname);
+int monitor_handle_fd_param2(Monitor *mon, const char *fdname, Error **errp);
 
 void monitor_vprintf(Monitor *mon, const char *fmt, va_list ap)
     GCC_FMT_ATTR(2, 0);
diff --git a/monitor.c b/monitor.c
index 2d3fb3f0ef..9af6b0ad66 100644
--- a/monitor.c
+++ b/monitor.c
@@ -2611,16 +2611,33 @@ int monitor_handle_fd_param(Monitor *mon, const char *fdname)
     int fd;
     Error *local_err = NULL;
 
-    if (!qemu_isdigit(fdname[0]) && mon) {
+    fd = monitor_handle_fd_param2(mon, fdname, &local_err);
+    if (local_err) {
+        qerror_report_err(local_err);
+        error_free(local_err);
+    }
+    return fd;
+}
 
+int monitor_handle_fd_param2(Monitor *mon, const char *fdname, Error **errp)
+{
+    int fd;
+    Error *local_err = NULL;
+
+    if (!qemu_isdigit(fdname[0]) && mon) {
         fd = monitor_get_fd(mon, fdname, &local_err);
-        if (fd == -1) {
-            qerror_report_err(local_err);
-            error_free(local_err);
-            return -1;
-        }
     } else {
         fd = qemu_parse_fd(fdname);
+        if (fd == -1) {
+            error_setg(&local_err, "Invalid file descriptor number '%s'",
+                       fdname);
+        }
+    }
+    if (local_err) {
+        error_propagate(errp, local_err);
+        assert(fd == -1);
+    } else {
+        assert(fd != -1);
     }
 
     return fd;