diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/timers/posix_timers.c b/tools/testing/selftests/timers/posix_timers.c
index f87d970a485c..5a246a02dff3 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/timers/posix_timers.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/timers/posix_timers.c
@@ -35,10 +35,11 @@ static void user_loop(void)
 static void kernel_loop(void)
 {
 	void *addr = sbrk(0);
+	int err = 0;
 
-	while (!done) {
-		brk(addr + 4096);
-		brk(addr);
+	while (!done && !err) {
+		err = brk(addr + 4096);
+		err |= brk(addr);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -190,8 +191,6 @@ static int check_timer_create(int which)
 
 int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	int err;
-
 	printf("Testing posix timers. False negative may happen on CPU execution \n");
 	printf("based timers if other threads run on the CPU...\n");