diff --git a/drivers/staging/greybus/operation.c b/drivers/staging/greybus/operation.c
index ab27cd94880a..32cd2358ab1c 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/greybus/operation.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/greybus/operation.c
@@ -563,6 +563,7 @@ static void gb_connection_recv_response(struct gb_connection *connection,
 	struct gb_operation *operation;
 	struct gb_message *message;
 	struct gb_operation_msg_hdr *header;
+	int result;
 
 	operation = gb_pending_operation_find(connection, operation_id);
 	if (!operation) {
@@ -577,17 +578,18 @@ static void gb_connection_recv_response(struct gb_connection *connection,
 	if (size <= message->size) {
 		/* Transfer the operation result from the response header */
 		header = message->header;
-		operation->errno = gb_operation_status_map(header->result);
+		result = gb_operation_status_map(header->result);
 	} else {
 		gb_connection_err(connection, "recv buffer too small");
-		operation->errno = -E2BIG;
+		result = -E2BIG;
 	}
 
 	/* We must ignore the payload if a bad status is returned */
-	if (!operation->errno)
+	if (!result)
 		memcpy(message->header, data, size);
 
 	/* The rest will be handled in work queue context */
+	operation->errno = result;
 	queue_work(gb_operation_workqueue, &operation->work);
 }