diff --git a/components/bt/controller/esp32/bt.c b/components/bt/controller/esp32/bt.c
index abf5c3d4d3..bf85ceb4b7 100644
--- a/components/bt/controller/esp32/bt.c
+++ b/components/bt/controller/esp32/bt.c
@@ -1701,6 +1701,7 @@ esp_err_t esp_bt_controller_init(esp_bt_controller_config_t *cfg)
 #if CONFIG_BT_BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_ENABLED
     if (ble_log_spi_out_init() != 0) {
         ESP_LOGE(BTDM_LOG_TAG, "BLE Log SPI output init failed");
+        err = ESP_ERR_NO_MEM;
         goto error;
     }
 #endif // CONFIG_BT_BLE_LOG_SPI_OUT_ENABLED