diff --git a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/backend_ssl.go b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/backend_ssl.go
index 079b2fee5f..a038b6fd92 100644
--- a/core/pkg/ingress/controller/backend_ssl.go
+++ b/core/pkg/ingress/controller/backend_ssl.go
@@ -89,10 +89,16 @@ func (ic *GenericController) getPemCertificate(secretName string) (*ingress.SSLC
 	var s *ingress.SSLCert
 	if okcert && okkey {
 		s, err = ssl.AddOrUpdateCertAndKey(nsSecName, cert, key, ca)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected error creating pem file %v", err)
+		}
 		glog.V(3).Infof("found certificate and private key, configuring %v as a TLS Secret (CN: %v)", secretName, s.CN)
 	} else if ca != nil {
 		glog.V(3).Infof("found only ca.crt, configuring %v as an Certificate Authentication secret", secretName)
 		s, err = ssl.AddCertAuth(nsSecName, ca)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected error creating pem file %v", err)
+		}
 	} else {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no keypair or CA cert could be found in %v", secretName)
 	}