diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b39b95391d..d467b87d6b 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ Bugfix
      previously lead to a stack overflow on constrained targets.
    * Add `MBEDTLS_SELF_TEST` for the mbedtls_self_test functions
      in the header files, which missed the precompilation check. #971
+   * Fix returning the value 1 when mbedtls_ecdsa_genkey failed.
 
 = mbed TLS 2.16.0 branch released 2018-12-21
 
diff --git a/library/ecdsa.c b/library/ecdsa.c
index 1204ef9949..dc19384d61 100644
--- a/library/ecdsa.c
+++ b/library/ecdsa.c
@@ -800,11 +800,16 @@ cleanup:
 int mbedtls_ecdsa_genkey( mbedtls_ecdsa_context *ctx, mbedtls_ecp_group_id gid,
                   int (*f_rng)(void *, unsigned char *, size_t), void *p_rng )
 {
+    int ret = 0;
     ECDSA_VALIDATE_RET( ctx   != NULL );
     ECDSA_VALIDATE_RET( f_rng != NULL );
 
-    return( mbedtls_ecp_group_load( &ctx->grp, gid ) ||
-            mbedtls_ecp_gen_keypair( &ctx->grp, &ctx->d, &ctx->Q, f_rng, p_rng ) );
+    ret = mbedtls_ecp_group_load( &ctx->grp, gid );
+    if( ret != 0 )
+        return( ret );
+
+   return( mbedtls_ecp_gen_keypair( &ctx->grp, &ctx->d,
+                                    &ctx->Q, f_rng, p_rng ) );
 }
 #endif /* !MBEDTLS_ECDSA_GENKEY_ALT */