diff --git a/hw/scsi/scsi-disk.c b/hw/scsi/scsi-disk.c
index 9c6099ffc4..548a5297fa 100644
--- a/hw/scsi/scsi-disk.c
+++ b/hw/scsi/scsi-disk.c
@@ -187,34 +187,48 @@ static void scsi_disk_load_request(QEMUFile *f, SCSIRequest *req)
  * scsi_handle_rw_error always manages its reference counts, independent
  * of the return value.
  */
-static bool scsi_handle_rw_error(SCSIDiskReq *r, int error, bool acct_failed)
+static bool scsi_handle_rw_error(SCSIDiskReq *r, int ret, bool acct_failed)
 {
     bool is_read = (r->req.cmd.mode == SCSI_XFER_FROM_DEV);
     SCSIDiskState *s = DO_UPCAST(SCSIDiskState, qdev, r->req.dev);
     SCSIDiskClass *sdc = (SCSIDiskClass *) object_get_class(OBJECT(s));
-    BlockErrorAction action = blk_get_error_action(s->qdev.conf.blk,
-                                                   is_read, error);
-    SCSISense sense;
+    SCSISense sense = SENSE_CODE(NO_SENSE);
+    int error = 0;
+    bool req_has_sense = false;
+    BlockErrorAction action;
+    int status;
 
+    if (ret < 0) {
+        status = scsi_sense_from_errno(-ret, &sense);
+        error = -ret;
+    } else {
+        /* A passthrough command has completed with nonzero status.  */
+        status = ret;
+        if (status == CHECK_CONDITION) {
+            req_has_sense = true;
+            error = scsi_sense_buf_to_errno(r->req.sense, sizeof(r->req.sense));
+        } else {
+            error = EINVAL;
+        }
+    }
+
+    action = blk_get_error_action(s->qdev.conf.blk, is_read, error);
     if (action == BLOCK_ERROR_ACTION_REPORT) {
         if (acct_failed) {
             block_acct_failed(blk_get_stats(s->qdev.conf.blk), &r->acct);
         }
-        if (error == 0) {
+        if (req_has_sense) {
             /* A passthrough command has run and has produced sense data; check
              * whether the error has to be handled by the guest or should rather
              * pause the host.
              */
-            assert(r->status && *r->status);
             if (scsi_sense_buf_is_guest_recoverable(r->req.sense, sizeof(r->req.sense))) {
                 /* These errors are handled by guest. */
                 sdc->update_sense(&r->req);
-                scsi_req_complete(&r->req, *r->status);
+                scsi_req_complete(&r->req, status);
                 return true;
             }
-            error = scsi_sense_buf_to_errno(r->req.sense, sizeof(r->req.sense));
         } else {
-            int status = scsi_sense_from_errno(error, &sense);
             if (status == CHECK_CONDITION) {
                 scsi_req_build_sense(&r->req, sense);
             }
@@ -240,8 +254,10 @@ static bool scsi_disk_req_check_error(SCSIDiskReq *r, int ret, bool acct_failed)
         return true;
     }
 
-    if (ret < 0 || (r->status && *r->status)) {
-        return scsi_handle_rw_error(r, -ret, acct_failed);
+    if (ret < 0) {
+        return scsi_handle_rw_error(r, ret, acct_failed);
+    } else if (r->status && *r->status) {
+        return scsi_handle_rw_error(r, *r->status, acct_failed);
     }
 
     return false;