diff --git a/src/app-layer-smtp.c b/src/app-layer-smtp.c
index 45836c5efd..9b4a27a676 100644
--- a/src/app-layer-smtp.c
+++ b/src/app-layer-smtp.c
@@ -529,8 +529,9 @@ int SMTPProcessDataChunk(const uint8_t *chunk, uint32_t len,
                         (uint8_t *)entity->filename, flen, (uint8_t *)chunk, len, flags) != 0) {
                 ret = MIME_DEC_ERR_DATA;
                 SCLogDebug("FileOpenFile() failed");
+            } else {
+                SMTPNewFile(tx, files->tail);
             }
-            SMTPNewFile(tx, files->tail);
 
             /* If close in the same chunk, then pass in empty bytes */
             if (state->body_end) {