diff --git a/hw/display/virtio-gpu.c b/hw/display/virtio-gpu.c
index 506cda944d..1f8a5b16c6 100644
--- a/hw/display/virtio-gpu.c
+++ b/hw/display/virtio-gpu.c
@@ -651,8 +651,10 @@ static void virtio_gpu_do_set_scanout(VirtIOGPU *g,
         if (console_has_gl(scanout->con)) {
             if (!virtio_gpu_update_dmabuf(g, scanout_id, res, fb, r)) {
                 virtio_gpu_update_scanout(g, scanout_id, res, r);
-                return;
+            } else {
+                *error = VIRTIO_GPU_RESP_ERR_OUT_OF_MEMORY;
             }
+            return;
         }
 
         data = res->blob;