diff --git a/fs/btrfs/space-info.c b/fs/btrfs/space-info.c
index de0044283e29..5b1b71e029ad 100644
--- a/fs/btrfs/space-info.c
+++ b/fs/btrfs/space-info.c
@@ -1418,8 +1418,18 @@ static void priority_reclaim_metadata_space(struct btrfs_fs_info *fs_info,
 		}
 	}
 
-	/* Attempt to steal from the global rsv if we can. */
-	if (!steal_from_global_rsv(fs_info, space_info, ticket)) {
+	/*
+	 * Attempt to steal from the global rsv if we can, except if the fs was
+	 * turned into error mode due to a transaction abort when flushing space
+	 * above, in that case fail with -EROFS instead of returning success to
+	 * the caller if we can steal from the global rsv - this is just to have
+	 * caller fail immeditelly instead of later when trying to modify the
+	 * fs, making it easier to debug -ENOSPC problems.
+	 */
+	if (BTRFS_FS_ERROR(fs_info)) {
+		ticket->error = -EROFS;
+		remove_ticket(space_info, ticket);
+	} else if (!steal_from_global_rsv(fs_info, space_info, ticket)) {
 		ticket->error = -ENOSPC;
 		remove_ticket(space_info, ticket);
 	}