diff --git a/internal/walker/walker.go b/internal/walker/walker.go
index 1bcdda16e..091b05489 100644
--- a/internal/walker/walker.go
+++ b/internal/walker/walker.go
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ func walk(ctx context.Context, repo restic.BlobLoader, prefix string, parentTree
 			if err != nil {
 				if err == ErrSkipNode {
 					// skip the remaining entries in this tree
-					return nil
+					break
 				}
 
 				return err