diff --git a/libavfilter/aeval.c b/libavfilter/aeval.c
index 45813dada6..37447b47e8 100644
--- a/libavfilter/aeval.c
+++ b/libavfilter/aeval.c
@@ -116,7 +116,8 @@ static int parse_channel_expressions(AVFilterContext *ctx,
 
     if (!eval->exprs || !*eval->exprs) {
         av_log(ctx, AV_LOG_ERROR, "Channels expressions list is empty\n");
-        return AVERROR(EINVAL);
+        ret = AVERROR(EINVAL);
+        goto end;
     }
 
     if (!strcmp(ctx->filter->name, "aeval")) {