diff --git a/sys/dev/mlx5/mlx5_core/mlx5_pagealloc.c b/sys/dev/mlx5/mlx5_core/mlx5_pagealloc.c
index d298da67057..730c7ee8bee 100644
--- a/sys/dev/mlx5/mlx5_core/mlx5_pagealloc.c
+++ b/sys/dev/mlx5/mlx5_core/mlx5_pagealloc.c
@@ -509,7 +509,10 @@ int mlx5_satisfy_startup_pages(struct mlx5_core_dev *dev, int boot)
 	mlx5_core_dbg(dev, "requested %d %s pages for func_id 0x%x\n",
 		      npages, boot ? "boot" : "init", func_id);
 
-	return give_pages(dev, func_id, npages, 0);
+	if (npages > 0)
+		return give_pages(dev, func_id, npages, 0);
+	else
+		return 0;
 }
 
 enum {