diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index 862dbd9af4f5..e6f3727b9ad2 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -5890,7 +5890,8 @@ static char *create_unique_id(struct kmem_cache *s)
 	char *name = kmalloc(ID_STR_LENGTH, GFP_KERNEL);
 	char *p = name;
 
-	BUG_ON(!name);
+	if (!name)
+		return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
 
 	*p++ = ':';
 	/*
@@ -5948,6 +5949,8 @@ static int sysfs_slab_add(struct kmem_cache *s)
 		 * for the symlinks.
 		 */
 		name = create_unique_id(s);
+		if (IS_ERR(name))
+			return PTR_ERR(name);
 	}
 
 	s->kobj.kset = kset;