diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/cacheinfo.c b/arch/arm64/kernel/cacheinfo.c
index 587543c6c51cb..97c42be71338a 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/cacheinfo.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/cacheinfo.c
@@ -45,7 +45,8 @@ static void ci_leaf_init(struct cacheinfo *this_leaf,
 
 int init_cache_level(unsigned int cpu)
 {
-	unsigned int ctype, level, leaves, fw_level;
+	unsigned int ctype, level, leaves;
+	int fw_level;
 	struct cpu_cacheinfo *this_cpu_ci = get_cpu_cacheinfo(cpu);
 
 	for (level = 1, leaves = 0; level <= MAX_CACHE_LEVEL; level++) {
@@ -63,6 +64,9 @@ int init_cache_level(unsigned int cpu)
 	else
 		fw_level = acpi_find_last_cache_level(cpu);
 
+	if (fw_level < 0)
+		return fw_level;
+
 	if (level < fw_level) {
 		/*
 		 * some external caches not specified in CLIDR_EL1