diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/fs_core.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/fs_core.c
index 331a6ca4856d..5f3402ba9916 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/fs_core.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/fs_core.c
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ static void del_rule(struct fs_node *node);
 static void del_flow_table(struct fs_node *node);
 static void del_flow_group(struct fs_node *node);
 static void del_fte(struct fs_node *node);
+static void cleanup_root_ns(struct mlx5_flow_root_namespace *root_ns);
 
 static void tree_init_node(struct fs_node *node,
 			   unsigned int refcount,
@@ -1690,24 +1691,28 @@ static int create_anchor_flow_table(struct mlx5_flow_steering *steering)
 
 static int init_root_ns(struct mlx5_flow_steering *steering)
 {
+	int err;
 
 	steering->root_ns = create_root_ns(steering, FS_FT_NIC_RX);
 	if (!steering->root_ns)
-		goto cleanup;
+		return -ENOMEM;
 
-	if (init_root_tree(steering, &root_fs, &steering->root_ns->ns.node))
-		goto cleanup;
+	err = init_root_tree(steering, &root_fs, &steering->root_ns->ns.node);
+	if (err)
+		goto out_err;
 
 	set_prio_attrs(steering->root_ns);
 
-	if (create_anchor_flow_table(steering))
-		goto cleanup;
+	err = create_anchor_flow_table(steering);
+	if (err)
+		goto out_err;
 
 	return 0;
 
-cleanup:
-	mlx5_cleanup_fs(steering->dev);
-	return -ENOMEM;
+out_err:
+	cleanup_root_ns(steering->root_ns);
+	steering->root_ns = NULL;
+	return err;
 }
 
 static void clean_tree(struct fs_node *node)