diff --git a/drivers/crypto/cavium/nitrox/nitrox_mbx.c b/drivers/crypto/cavium/nitrox/nitrox_mbx.c
index 9e7308e39b30..d4e06999af9b 100644
--- a/drivers/crypto/cavium/nitrox/nitrox_mbx.c
+++ b/drivers/crypto/cavium/nitrox/nitrox_mbx.c
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ int nitrox_mbox_init(struct nitrox_device *ndev)
 	ndev->iov.pf2vf_wq = alloc_workqueue("nitrox_pf2vf", 0, 0);
 	if (!ndev->iov.pf2vf_wq) {
 		kfree(ndev->iov.vfdev);
+		ndev->iov.vfdev = NULL;
 		return -ENOMEM;
 	}
 	/* enable pf2vf mailbox interrupts */