diff --git a/include/linux/bitmap.h b/include/linux/bitmap.h
index a967e1f7542b..7df1573a409c 100644
--- a/include/linux/bitmap.h
+++ b/include/linux/bitmap.h
@@ -209,6 +209,9 @@ unsigned long bitmap_find_next_zero_area_off(unsigned long *map,
  * The @align_mask should be one less than a power of 2; the effect is that
  * the bit offset of all zero areas this function finds is multiples of that
  * power of 2. A @align_mask of 0 means no alignment is required.
+ *
+ * Return: The bit offset of the found area or a value >= @size
+ * if no area is found.
  */
 static __always_inline
 unsigned long bitmap_find_next_zero_area(unsigned long *map,
diff --git a/lib/bitmap.c b/lib/bitmap.c
index b464d843f4eb..ed685127a107 100644
--- a/lib/bitmap.c
+++ b/lib/bitmap.c
@@ -424,6 +424,9 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(__bitmap_clear);
  * The @align_mask should be one less than a power of 2; the effect is that
  * the bit offset of all zero areas this function finds plus @align_offset
  * is multiple of that power of 2.
+ *
+ * Return: The bit offset of the found area or a value greater than or equal
+ * to @size if no area is found.
  */
 unsigned long bitmap_find_next_zero_area_off(unsigned long *map,
 					     unsigned long size,
@@ -448,12 +451,7 @@ unsigned long bitmap_find_next_zero_area_off(unsigned long *map,
 		start = i;
 	}
 
-	/*
-	 * Here, returning size + 1 is to maintain consistency
-	 * with the old version, where the return value is always
-	 * greater than size when no zero areas are found.
-	 */
-	return size + 1;
+	return size;
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(bitmap_find_next_zero_area_off);