diff --git a/hw/core/numa.c b/hw/core/numa.c
index d8d36b16d8..f08956ddb0 100644
--- a/hw/core/numa.c
+++ b/hw/core/numa.c
@@ -531,10 +531,17 @@ static int parse_numa(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
     /* Fix up legacy suffix-less format */
     if ((object->type == NUMA_OPTIONS_TYPE_NODE) && object->u.node.has_mem) {
         const char *mem_str = qemu_opt_get(opts, "mem");
-        qemu_strtosz_MiB(mem_str, NULL, &object->u.node.mem);
+        int ret = qemu_strtosz_MiB(mem_str, NULL, &object->u.node.mem);
+
+        if (ret < 0) {
+            error_setg_errno(&err, -ret, "could not parse memory size '%s'",
+                             mem_str);
+        }
     }
 
-    set_numa_options(ms, object, &err);
+    if (!err) {
+        set_numa_options(ms, object, &err);
+    }
 
     qapi_free_NumaOptions(object);
     if (err) {