diff --git a/hw/block/virtio-blk.c b/hw/block/virtio-blk.c
index 92de315f17..bb86e65f65 100644
--- a/hw/block/virtio-blk.c
+++ b/hw/block/virtio-blk.c
@@ -768,7 +768,8 @@ static void virtio_blk_handle_zone_report(VirtIOBlockReq *req,
             sizeof(struct virtio_blk_zone_report) +
             sizeof(struct virtio_blk_zone_descriptor)) {
         virtio_error(vdev, "in buffer too small for zone report");
-        return;
+        err_status = VIRTIO_BLK_S_ZONE_INVALID_CMD;
+        goto out;
     }
 
     /* start byte offset of the zone report */