diff --git a/fs/proc/base.c b/fs/proc/base.c
index 5bc587049b37..837469a96598 100644
--- a/fs/proc/base.c
+++ b/fs/proc/base.c
@@ -1187,17 +1187,16 @@ static ssize_t proc_fault_inject_write(struct file * file,
 		count = sizeof(buffer) - 1;
 	if (copy_from_user(buffer, buf, count))
 		return -EFAULT;
-	make_it_fail = simple_strtol(buffer, &end, 0);
-	if (*end == '\n')
-		end++;
+	make_it_fail = simple_strtol(strstrip(buffer), &end, 0);
+	if (*end)
+		return -EINVAL;
 	task = get_proc_task(file->f_dentry->d_inode);
 	if (!task)
 		return -ESRCH;
 	task->make_it_fail = make_it_fail;
 	put_task_struct(task);
-	if (end - buffer == 0)
-		return -EIO;
-	return end - buffer;
+
+	return count;
 }
 
 static const struct file_operations proc_fault_inject_operations = {