diff --git a/src/ceph.in b/src/ceph.in
index 8de12324655cb..2b6adf4dc579a 100755
--- a/src/ceph.in
+++ b/src/ceph.in
@@ -446,7 +446,7 @@ def new_style_command(parsed_args, cmdargs, target, sigdict, inbuf, verbose):
                 except Exception as e:
                     print >> sys.stderr, \
                             'error handling command target: {0}'.format(e)
-                    return 1
+                    return 1, '', ''
                 valid_dict = validate_command(sigdict, cmdargs, verbose)
                 if valid_dict:
                     if parsed_args.output_format: