diff --git a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Bufferization/IR/BufferizableOpInterface.td b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Bufferization/IR/BufferizableOpInterface.td
--- a/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Bufferization/IR/BufferizableOpInterface.td
+++ b/mlir/include/mlir/Dialect/Bufferization/IR/BufferizableOpInterface.td
@@ -216,6 +216,13 @@
 
           This method will never be called on ops that do not have at least one
           tensor operand/result.
+
+          The return value of this method indicates whether there was an error
+          while bufferizing this op (such as failing to create a new buffer
+          allocation op). The bufferization driver immediately stops bufferizing
+          the input IR and returns `failure` in that case. If this op is
+          expected to survive bufferization, `success` should be returned
+          (together with `allow-unknown-ops` enabled).
         }],
         /*retType=*/"LogicalResult",
         /*methodName=*/"bufferize",
diff --git a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/Bufferize.cpp b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/Bufferize.cpp
--- a/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/Bufferize.cpp
+++ b/mlir/lib/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/Bufferize.cpp
@@ -391,7 +391,8 @@
       continue;
     // Bufferize the op.
     rewriter.setInsertionPoint(op);
-    (void)bufferizableOp.bufferize(rewriter, bufferizationState);
+    if (failed(bufferizableOp.bufferize(rewriter, bufferizationState)))
+      return op->emitError("failed to bufferize op");
   }
 
   // Fold all to_memref(to_tensor(x)) pairs.
diff --git a/mlir/test/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/one-shot-module-bufferize-invalid.mlir b/mlir/test/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/one-shot-module-bufferize-invalid.mlir
--- a/mlir/test/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/one-shot-module-bufferize-invalid.mlir
+++ b/mlir/test/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/one-shot-module-bufferize-invalid.mlir
@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@
 
 // -----
 
-// expected-error @+2 {{op was not bufferized}}
-// expected-error @+1 {{cannot bufferize bodiless function that returns a tensor}}
+// expected-error @+2 {{cannot bufferize bodiless function that returns a tensor}}
+// expected-error @+1 {{failed to bufferize op}}
 func.func private @foo() -> tensor<?xf32>
 
 // -----
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@
 
 // -----
 
-// expected-error @+2 {{op was not bufferized}}
+// expected-error @+2 {{failed to bufferize op}}
 // expected-error @+1 {{cannot bufferize bodiless function that returns a tensor}}
 func.func private @foo(%t : tensor<?xf32>) -> (f32, tensor<?xf32>, f32)