diff --git a/virtcontainers/agent.go b/virtcontainers/agent.go
index 56721bf9a7..fb24cfa4b5 100644
--- a/virtcontainers/agent.go
+++ b/virtcontainers/agent.go
@@ -91,19 +91,19 @@ func newAgent(agentType AgentType) agent {
 }
 
 // newAgentConfig returns an agent config from a generic SandboxConfig interface.
-func newAgentConfig(agentType AgentType, agentConfig interface{}) interface{} {
+func newAgentConfig(agentType AgentType, agentConfig interface{}) (interface{}, error) {
 	switch agentType {
 	case NoopAgentType:
-		return nil
+		return nil, nil
 	case KataContainersAgent:
 		var kataAgentConfig KataAgentConfig
 		err := mapstructure.Decode(agentConfig, &kataAgentConfig)
 		if err != nil {
-			return err
+			return nil, err
 		}
-		return kataAgentConfig
+		return kataAgentConfig, nil
 	default:
-		return nil
+		return nil, nil
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/virtcontainers/agent_test.go b/virtcontainers/agent_test.go
index 4706bdaf4d..21840df61e 100644
--- a/virtcontainers/agent_test.go
+++ b/virtcontainers/agent_test.go
@@ -86,7 +86,12 @@ func TestNewAgentFromUnknownAgentType(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func testNewAgentConfig(t *testing.T, config SandboxConfig, expected interface{}) {
-	agentConfig := newAgentConfig(config.AgentType, config.AgentConfig)
+	agentConfig, err := newAgentConfig(config.AgentType, config.AgentConfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+
+	}
+
 	if reflect.DeepEqual(agentConfig, expected) == false {
 		t.Fatal()
 	}
diff --git a/virtcontainers/sandbox.go b/virtcontainers/sandbox.go
index 8d3046d46f..5ca4395422 100644
--- a/virtcontainers/sandbox.go
+++ b/virtcontainers/sandbox.go
@@ -583,7 +583,11 @@ func newSandbox(ctx context.Context, sandboxConfig SandboxConfig, factory Factor
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	agentConfig := newAgentConfig(sandboxConfig.AgentType, sandboxConfig.AgentConfig)
+	agentConfig, err := newAgentConfig(sandboxConfig.AgentType, sandboxConfig.AgentConfig)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	if err = s.agent.init(ctx, s, agentConfig); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}