diff --git a/lib/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c b/lib/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
index f64d25d72..c9a106683 100644
--- a/lib/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
+++ b/lib/bdev/nvme/bdev_nvme.c
@@ -949,6 +949,11 @@ create_ctrlr(struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr *ctrlr,
 	nvme_ctrlr->ref = 0;
 	nvme_ctrlr->trid = *trid;
 	nvme_ctrlr->name = strdup(name);
+	if (nvme_ctrlr->name == NULL) {
+		free(nvme_ctrlr->bdevs);
+		free(nvme_ctrlr);
+		return -ENOMEM;
+	}
 
 	spdk_io_device_register(ctrlr, bdev_nvme_create_cb, bdev_nvme_destroy_cb,
 				sizeof(struct nvme_io_channel));