diff --git a/drivers/tty/n_tty.c b/drivers/tty/n_tty.c
index c3954fbf6ac4..d7164bfe8225 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/n_tty.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/n_tty.c
@@ -1728,7 +1728,8 @@ static ssize_t n_tty_read(struct tty_struct *tty, struct file *file,
 
 do_it_again:
 
-	BUG_ON(!tty->read_buf);
+	if (WARN_ON(!tty->read_buf))
+		return -EAGAIN;
 
 	c = job_control(tty, file);
 	if (c < 0)