diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 7fe59d89cfa6b83be4bad777b1f3b41c0c9be46b..7917a55b78bec13cdbca7b28d243c47bbee1bb31 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ documents those changes that are of interest to users and admins.
     you could get multiple '*' wckeys.
  -- Fix bug which could report to squeue the wrong partition for a running job
     that is submitted to multiple partitions.
- -- If failed to rmdir() a cgroup, ignore the error preventing slurmstepd from
-    loop forever.
  -- Report correct CPU count allocated to job when allocated whole node even if
     not using all CPUs.
  -- If job's constraints cannot be satisfied put it in pending state with reason
diff --git a/src/plugins/proctrack/cgroup/proctrack_cgroup.c b/src/plugins/proctrack/cgroup/proctrack_cgroup.c
index e92386937d6bde9186e632885a06d38cf3324a31..d3608d3dd934e5b3e8da0f65119348f6d58558ba 100644
--- a/src/plugins/proctrack/cgroup/proctrack_cgroup.c
+++ b/src/plugins/proctrack/cgroup/proctrack_cgroup.c
@@ -287,11 +287,8 @@ int _slurm_cgroup_destroy(void)
 		if (xcgroup_delete(&step_freezer_cg) != XCGROUP_SUCCESS) {
 			error("_slurm_cgroup_destroy: problem deleting step "
 			      "cgroup path %s: %m", step_freezer_cg.path);
-			/* Ignore the error since the cgroup will
-			 * be eventually cleaned up by the release
-			 * script.
-			 */
 			xcgroup_unlock(&freezer_cg);
+			return SLURM_ERROR;
 		}
 		xcgroup_destroy(&step_freezer_cg);
 	}