diff --git a/libcontainer/criu_linux.go b/libcontainer/criu_linux.go
index 4c6ae71465f..18312ca522a 100644
--- a/libcontainer/criu_linux.go
+++ b/libcontainer/criu_linux.go
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ func criuNsToKey(t configs.NamespaceType) string {
 
 func (c *Container) handleCheckpointingExternalNamespaces(rpcOpts *criurpc.CriuOpts, t configs.NamespaceType) error {
 	if !c.criuSupportsExtNS(t) {
-		return nil
+		return fmt.Errorf("criu version does not meet the requirements")
 	}
 
 	nsPath := c.config.Namespaces.PathOf(t)