diff --git a/lib/librte_vhost/vdpa.c b/lib/librte_vhost/vdpa.c
index c2c5dff1d4..e7d849ee0f 100644
--- a/lib/librte_vhost/vdpa.c
+++ b/lib/librte_vhost/vdpa.c
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ rte_vdpa_register_device(struct rte_vdpa_dev_addr *addr,
 			break;
 	}
 
+	if (i == MAX_VHOST_DEVICE)
+		return -1;
+
 	sprintf(device_name, "vdpa-dev-%d", i);
 	dev = rte_zmalloc(device_name, sizeof(struct rte_vdpa_device),
 			RTE_CACHE_LINE_SIZE);