diff --git a/src/core/cgroup.c b/src/core/cgroup.c
index 32e2599a2..c215a86aa 100644
--- a/src/core/cgroup.c
+++ b/src/core/cgroup.c
@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@ int manager_setup_cgroup(Manager *m) {
                 close_nointr_nofail(m->pin_cgroupfs_fd);
 
         m->pin_cgroupfs_fd = open(path, O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC|O_DIRECTORY|O_NOCTTY|O_NONBLOCK);
-        if (r < 0) {
+        if (m->pin_cgroupfs_fd < 0) {
                 log_error("Failed to open pin file: %m");
                 return -errno;
         }