diff --git a/lib/bdev/bdev.c b/lib/bdev/bdev.c
index 270458f8f..4cf4bf1fd 100644
--- a/lib/bdev/bdev.c
+++ b/lib/bdev/bdev.c
@@ -1134,6 +1134,16 @@ spdk_bdev_module_finish_iter(void *arg)
 {
 	struct spdk_bdev_module *bdev_module;
 
+	/* FIXME: Handling initialization failures is broken now,
+	 * so we won't even try cleaning up after successfully
+	 * initialized modules. if module_init_complete is false,
+	 * just call spdk_bdev_mgr_unregister_cb
+	 */
+	if (!g_bdev_mgr.module_init_complete) {
+		spdk_bdev_mgr_unregister_cb(NULL);
+		return;
+	}
+
 	/* Start iterating from the last touched module */
 	if (!g_resume_bdev_module) {
 		bdev_module = TAILQ_LAST(&g_bdev_mgr.bdev_modules, bdev_module_list);