diff --git a/src/common/impl/sysctl.c b/src/common/impl/sysctl.c
index 62268754a..597469814 100644
--- a/src/common/impl/sysctl.c
+++ b/src/common/impl/sysctl.c
@@ -47,10 +47,12 @@ const char* ffSysctlGetString(const char* propName, FFstrbuf* result) {
 
     ffStrbufEnsureFree(result, (uint32_t) neededLength - 1);
 
-    if (sysctlbyname(propName, result->chars + result->length, &neededLength, NULL, 0) == 0) {
-        result->length += (uint32_t) neededLength - 1;
+    if (sysctlbyname(propName, result->chars + result->length, &neededLength, NULL, 0) != 0) {
+        return "sysctlbyname() failed to retrieve string data";
     }
 
+    result->length += (uint32_t) neededLength - 1;
+
     result->chars[result->length] = '\0';
 
     return NULL;
@@ -81,9 +83,6 @@ void* ffSysctlGetData(int* request, u_int requestLength, size_t* resultLength) {
     }
 
     void* data = malloc(*resultLength);
-    if (data == NULL) {
-        return NULL;
-    }
 
     if (sysctl(request, requestLength, data, resultLength, NULL, 0) != 0) {
         free(data);