diff --git a/fs/configfs/dir.c b/fs/configfs/dir.c
index 18677cd4e62f..2df99cd1034d 100644
--- a/fs/configfs/dir.c
+++ b/fs/configfs/dir.c
@@ -593,7 +593,7 @@ static int populate_attrs(struct config_item *item)
 				break;
 		}
 	}
-	if (t->ct_bin_attrs) {
+	if (!error && t->ct_bin_attrs) {
 		for (i = 0; (bin_attr = t->ct_bin_attrs[i]) != NULL; i++) {
 			error = configfs_create_bin_file(item, bin_attr);
 			if (error)