diff --git a/src/detect-byte-extract.c b/src/detect-byte-extract.c
index 9eae71eb78..d5976992a4 100644
--- a/src/detect-byte-extract.c
+++ b/src/detect-byte-extract.c
@@ -679,6 +679,8 @@ int DetectByteExtractSetup(DetectEngineCtx *de_ctx, Signature *s, char *arg)
             sm_list = DETECT_SM_LIST_PMATCH;
         } else {
             sm_list = SigMatchListSMBelongsTo(s, prev_pm);
+            if (sm_list < 0)
+                goto error;
             if (sm_list != DETECT_SM_LIST_PMATCH)
                 s->flags |= SIG_FLAG_APPLAYER;
         }