diff --git a/lib/libfdt/fdt_ro.c b/lib/libfdt/fdt_ro.c
index 38bfcbd..7b0777b 100644
--- a/lib/libfdt/fdt_ro.c
+++ b/lib/libfdt/fdt_ro.c
@@ -517,7 +517,7 @@
 
 	list = fdt_getprop(fdt, node, property, &length);
 	if (!list)
-		return -length;
+		return length;
 
 	for (i = 0; i < length; i++) {
 		int len = strlen(list);