diff --git a/lib/fault-inject.c b/lib/fault-inject.c
index 7d315fdb9f13..cf7b129b0b2b 100644
--- a/lib/fault-inject.c
+++ b/lib/fault-inject.c
@@ -110,10 +110,12 @@ bool should_fail(struct fault_attr *attr, ssize_t size)
 	if (in_task()) {
 		unsigned int fail_nth = READ_ONCE(current->fail_nth);
 
-		if (fail_nth && !WRITE_ONCE(current->fail_nth, fail_nth - 1))
-			goto fail;
+		if (fail_nth) {
+			if (!WRITE_ONCE(current->fail_nth, fail_nth - 1))
+				goto fail;
 
-		return false;
+			return false;
+		}
 	}
 
 	/* No need to check any other properties if the probability is 0 */