diff --git a/src/arbits/slbt_archive_syminfo.c b/src/arbits/slbt_archive_syminfo.c
index f3857eb..1d7fffd 100644
--- a/src/arbits/slbt_archive_syminfo.c
+++ b/src/arbits/slbt_archive_syminfo.c
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ static int slbt_obtain_nminfo(
 	strcpy(&output[pos],".nm");
 
 	/* fork */
-	fdout = openat(fdcwd,output,O_CREAT|O_TRUNC|O_WRONLY,0644);
+	if ((fdout = openat(fdcwd,output,O_CREAT|O_TRUNC|O_WRONLY,0644)) < 0)
+		return SLBT_SYSTEM_ERROR(dctx,output);
 
 	if ((pid = fork()) < 0) {
 		close(fdout);