diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/xattr.c b/fs/ocfs2/xattr.c
index 789fb70462c9..a371c01942b1 100644
--- a/fs/ocfs2/xattr.c
+++ b/fs/ocfs2/xattr.c
@@ -4092,7 +4092,7 @@ static int ocfs2_xattr_value_update_size(struct inode *inode,
 	handle_t *handle = NULL;
 
 	handle = ocfs2_start_trans(osb, 1);
-	if (handle == NULL) {
+	if (IS_ERR(handle)) {
 		ret = -ENOMEM;
 		mlog_errno(ret);
 		goto out;
@@ -4259,7 +4259,7 @@ static int ocfs2_rm_xattr_cluster(struct inode *inode,
 	}
 
 	handle = ocfs2_start_trans(osb, OCFS2_REMOVE_EXTENT_CREDITS);
-	if (handle == NULL) {
+	if (IS_ERR(handle)) {
 		ret = -ENOMEM;
 		mlog_errno(ret);
 		goto out;