diff --git a/testing/scripts/build-guestkernel b/testing/scripts/build-guestkernel
index f7ffdab58..9114e50dd 100755
--- a/testing/scripts/build-guestkernel
+++ b/testing/scripts/build-guestkernel
@@ -37,8 +37,9 @@ then
 	then
 		log_action "Applying kernel patch"
 		bzcat $KERNELPATCH | patch -d $KERNELDIR -p1 >>$LOGFILE 2>&1
-		log_status $?
-		[ $? -eq 0 ] || exit 1
+		status=$?
+		log_status $status
+		[ $status -eq 0 ] || exit 1
 	fi
 fi
 cd $KERNELDIR