diff --git a/src/event/ServerSocket.cxx b/src/event/ServerSocket.cxx
index 781d29181..361aba886 100644
--- a/src/event/ServerSocket.cxx
+++ b/src/event/ServerSocket.cxx
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ get_remote_uid(int fd)
 	socklen_t len = sizeof (cred);
 
 	if (getsockopt(fd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_PEERCRED, &cred, &len) < 0)
-		return 0;
+		return -1;
 
 	return cred.uid;
 #else