diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx_msg.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx_msg.c
index f0374f9b56ca..e57a0bad7a62 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx_msg.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx_msg.c
@@ -300,6 +300,9 @@ static int vmw_recv_msg(struct rpc_channel *channel, void **msg,
 		break;
 	}
 
+	if (retries == RETRIES)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	*msg_len = reply_len;
 	*msg     = reply;