diff --git a/include/spdk_internal/virtio.h b/include/spdk_internal/virtio.h
index 69416d500..67b81eaff 100644
--- a/include/spdk_internal/virtio.h
+++ b/include/spdk_internal/virtio.h
@@ -209,9 +209,10 @@ uint16_t virtio_recv_pkts(struct virtqueue *vq, void **io, uint32_t *len, uint16
  * is sent, processed and a response is received, the same object will be
  * returned to the user calling the virtio poll API.
  * \param iovcnt number of required iovectors for the request. This can be
- * higher than than the actual number of descriptors to be added.
- * \return 0 on success or negative errno otherwise. If not enough iovectors
- * are available, -ENOSPC is returned.
+ * higher than than the actual number of iovectors to be added.
+ * \return 0 on success or negative errno otherwise. If the `iovcnt` is
+ * greater than virtqueue depth, -EINVAL is returned. If simply not enough
+ * iovectors are available, -ENOMEM is returned.
  */
 int virtqueue_req_start(struct virtqueue *vq, void *cookie, int iovcnt);
 
diff --git a/lib/virtio/virtio.c b/lib/virtio/virtio.c
index 3e22d9efc..a4f0fc6d1 100644
--- a/lib/virtio/virtio.c
+++ b/lib/virtio/virtio.c
@@ -448,7 +448,7 @@ virtqueue_req_start(struct virtqueue *vq, void *cookie, int iovcnt)
 	assert(virtio_dev_get_status(vq->vdev) & VIRTIO_CONFIG_S_DRIVER_OK);
 
 	if (iovcnt > vq->vq_free_cnt) {
-		return -ENOSPC;
+		return iovcnt > vq->vq_nentries ? -EINVAL : -ENOMEM;
 	}
 
 	if (vq->req_start != VQ_RING_DESC_CHAIN_END) {