diff --git a/kernel/rcu/refscale.c b/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
index d9291f883b542..952595c678b37 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
+++ b/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
@@ -546,9 +546,11 @@ static int main_func(void *arg)
 	// Print the average of all experiments
 	SCALEOUT("END OF TEST. Calculating average duration per loop (nanoseconds)...\n");
 
-	buf[0] = 0;
-	strcat(buf, "\n");
-	strcat(buf, "Runs\tTime(ns)\n");
+	if (!errexit) {
+		buf[0] = 0;
+		strcat(buf, "\n");
+		strcat(buf, "Runs\tTime(ns)\n");
+	}
 
 	for (exp = 0; exp < nruns; exp++) {
 		u64 avg;