diff --git a/linux-user/syscall.c b/linux-user/syscall.c
index 2bba500187..cec8428589 100644
--- a/linux-user/syscall.c
+++ b/linux-user/syscall.c
@@ -11194,11 +11194,16 @@ abi_long do_syscall(void *cpu_env, int num, abi_long arg1,
     case TARGET_NR_mincore:
         {
             void *a;
+            ret = -TARGET_ENOMEM;
+            a = lock_user(VERIFY_READ, arg1, arg2, 0);
+            if (!a) {
+                goto fail;
+            }
             ret = -TARGET_EFAULT;
-            if (!(a = lock_user(VERIFY_READ, arg1,arg2, 0)))
-                goto efault;
-            if (!(p = lock_user_string(arg3)))
+            p = lock_user_string(arg3);
+            if (!p) {
                 goto mincore_fail;
+            }
             ret = get_errno(mincore(a, arg2, p));
             unlock_user(p, arg3, ret);
             mincore_fail: