static struct usb_raw_event *raw_event_queue_fetch(
                                struct raw_event_queue *queue)
 {
+       int ret;
        unsigned long flags;
        struct usb_raw_event *event;
 
         * there's at least one event queued by decrementing the semaphore,
         * and then take the lock to protect queue struct fields.
         */
-       if (down_interruptible(&queue->sema))
-               return NULL;
+       ret = down_interruptible(&queue->sema);
+       if (ret)
+               return ERR_PTR(ret);
        spin_lock_irqsave(&queue->lock, flags);
-       if (WARN_ON(!queue->size))
-               return NULL;
+       /*
+        * queue->size must have the same value as queue->sema counter (before
+        * the down_interruptible() call above), so this check is a fail-safe.
+        */
+       if (WARN_ON(!queue->size)) {
+               spin_unlock_irqrestore(&queue->lock, flags);
+               return ERR_PTR(-ENODEV);
+       }
        event = queue->events[0];
        queue->size--;
        memmove(&queue->events[0], &queue->events[1],
        spin_unlock_irqrestore(&dev->lock, flags);
 
        event = raw_event_queue_fetch(&dev->queue);
-       if (!event) {
+       if (PTR_ERR(event) == -EINTR) {
                dev_dbg(&dev->gadget->dev, "event fetching interrupted\n");
                return -EINTR;
        }
+       if (IS_ERR(event)) {
+               dev_err(&dev->gadget->dev, "failed to fetch event\n");
+               spin_lock_irqsave(&dev->lock, flags);
+               dev->state = STATE_DEV_FAILED;
+               spin_unlock_irqrestore(&dev->lock, flags);
+               return -ENODEV;
+       }
        length = min(arg.length, event->length);
        ret = copy_to_user((void __user *)value, event,
                                sizeof(*event) + length);