diff --git a/examples/ioat/verify/verify.c b/examples/ioat/verify/verify.c
index 1409ad6a90..0df41f69be 100644
--- a/examples/ioat/verify/verify.c
+++ b/examples/ioat/verify/verify.c
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ work_fn(void *arg)
 	struct thread_entry *t = (struct thread_entry *)arg;
 
 	if (!t->chan) {
-		return 0;
+		return 1;
 	}
 
 	t->lcore_id = spdk_env_get_current_core();
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ init_src_buffer(void)
 	g_src = spdk_dma_zmalloc(SRC_BUFFER_SIZE, 512, NULL);
 	if (g_src == NULL) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "Allocate src buffer failed\n");
-		return -1;
+		return 1;
 	}
 
 	for (i = 0; i < SRC_BUFFER_SIZE / 4; i++) {
@@ -504,7 +504,10 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 
 	threads[current_core].chan = get_next_chan();
-	work_fn(&threads[current_core]);
+	if (work_fn(&threads[current_core]) != 0) {
+		rc = 1;
+		goto cleanup;
+	}
 
 	spdk_env_thread_wait_all();
 	rc = dump_result(threads, num_threads);