diff --git a/Documentation/virt/coco/sev-guest.rst b/Documentation/virt/coco/sev-guest.rst
index bf593e88cfd9..aa3e4c6a1f90 100644
--- a/Documentation/virt/coco/sev-guest.rst
+++ b/Documentation/virt/coco/sev-guest.rst
@@ -40,8 +40,8 @@ along with a description:
 The guest ioctl should be issued on a file descriptor of the /dev/sev-guest device.
 The ioctl accepts struct snp_user_guest_request. The input and output structure is
 specified through the req_data and resp_data field respectively. If the ioctl fails
-to execute due to a firmware error, then fw_err code will be set otherwise the
-fw_err will be set to 0x00000000000000ff.
+to execute due to a firmware error, then fw_err code will be set. Otherwise, fw_err
+will be set to 0x00000000ffffffff, i.e., the lower 32-bits are -1.
 
 The firmware checks that the message sequence counter is one greater than
 the guests message sequence counter. If guest driver fails to increment message
diff --git a/drivers/crypto/ccp/sev-dev.c b/drivers/crypto/ccp/sev-dev.c
index 3e583f032487..b8e02c3a1961 100644
--- a/drivers/crypto/ccp/sev-dev.c
+++ b/drivers/crypto/ccp/sev-dev.c
@@ -443,10 +443,10 @@ static int __sev_init_ex_locked(int *error)
 
 static int __sev_platform_init_locked(int *error)
 {
+	int rc = 0, psp_ret = SEV_RET_NO_FW_CALL;
 	struct psp_device *psp = psp_master;
-	struct sev_device *sev;
-	int rc = 0, psp_ret = -1;
 	int (*init_function)(int *error);
+	struct sev_device *sev;
 
 	if (!psp || !psp->sev_data)
 		return -ENODEV;
@@ -474,9 +474,11 @@ static int __sev_platform_init_locked(int *error)
 		 * initialization function should succeed by replacing the state
 		 * with a reset state.
 		 */
-		dev_err(sev->dev, "SEV: retrying INIT command because of SECURE_DATA_INVALID error. Retrying once to reset PSP SEV state.");
+		dev_err(sev->dev,
+"SEV: retrying INIT command because of SECURE_DATA_INVALID error. Retrying once to reset PSP SEV state.");
 		rc = init_function(&psp_ret);
 	}
+
 	if (error)
 		*error = psp_ret;
 
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/psp-sev.h b/include/uapi/linux/psp-sev.h
index 91b4c63d5cbf..1c9da485318f 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/psp-sev.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/psp-sev.h
@@ -36,6 +36,13 @@ enum {
  * SEV Firmware status code
  */
 typedef enum {
+	/*
+	 * This error code is not in the SEV spec. Its purpose is to convey that
+	 * there was an error that prevented the SEV firmware from being called.
+	 * The SEV API error codes are 16 bits, so the -1 value will not overlap
+	 * with possible values from the specification.
+	 */
+	SEV_RET_NO_FW_CALL = -1,
 	SEV_RET_SUCCESS = 0,
 	SEV_RET_INVALID_PLATFORM_STATE,
 	SEV_RET_INVALID_GUEST_STATE,