diff --git a/src/sysext/sysext.c b/src/sysext/sysext.c
index 57f06b2678..267c90f976 100644
--- a/src/sysext/sysext.c
+++ b/src/sysext/sysext.c
@@ -1742,9 +1742,10 @@ static int merge(ImageClass image_class,
         r = wait_for_terminate_and_check("(sd-merge)", pid, WAIT_LOG_ABNORMAL);
         if (r < 0)
                 return r;
-
         if (r == 123) /* exit code 123 means: didn't do anything */
                 return 0;
+        if (r > 0)
+                return log_error_errno(SYNTHETIC_ERRNO(ENXIO), "Failed to merge hierarchies");
 
         r = need_reload(image_class, hierarchies, no_reload);
         if (r < 0)
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-50.sh b/test/units/testsuite-50.sh
index d358b38354..e2ab409c26 100755
--- a/test/units/testsuite-50.sh
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-50.sh
@@ -1323,7 +1323,7 @@ ln -sfTr "${real_ext_dir}" "${ext_data_path}"
 prep_ro_hierarchy "${fake_root}" "${hierarchy}"
 
 # run systemd-sysext
-SYSTEMD_SYSEXT_HIERARCHIES="${hierarchy}" systemd-sysext --root="${fake_root}" --mutable=auto merge || die "expected merge to fail"
+SYSTEMD_SYSEXT_HIERARCHIES="${hierarchy}" systemd-sysext --root="${fake_root}" --mutable=auto merge && die "expected merge to fail"
 
 
 #