diff --git a/src/lxc/confile_utils.c b/src/lxc/confile_utils.c
index 81aa67b46..705d7e607 100644
--- a/src/lxc/confile_utils.c
+++ b/src/lxc/confile_utils.c
@@ -1039,5 +1039,5 @@ int sig_parse(const char *signame)
 				return signames[n].num;
 	}
 
-	return -1;
+	return ret_errno(EINVAL);
 }