diff --git a/fs/ext4/ioctl.c b/fs/ext4/ioctl.c
index 0f6c36922c24..a99b010e2194 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/ioctl.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/ioctl.c
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ static int ext4_ioctl_setflags(struct inode *inode,
 {
 	struct ext4_inode_info *ei = EXT4_I(inode);
 	handle_t *handle = NULL;
-	int err = EPERM, migrate = 0;
+	int err = -EPERM, migrate = 0;
 	struct ext4_iloc iloc;
 	unsigned int oldflags, mask, i;
 	unsigned int jflag;