diff --git a/ext/xmlwriter/php_xmlwriter.c b/ext/xmlwriter/php_xmlwriter.c
index e9a3dff2781f5..24ce414034af5 100644
--- a/ext/xmlwriter/php_xmlwriter.c
+++ b/ext/xmlwriter/php_xmlwriter.c
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ PHP_FUNCTION(xmlwriter_write_element)
 			if (retval == -1) {
 				RETURN_FALSE;
 			}
-			xmlTextWriterEndElement(ptr);
+			retval = xmlTextWriterEndElement(ptr);
 			if (retval == -1) {
 				RETURN_FALSE;
 			}