diff --git a/libctf/ChangeLog b/libctf/ChangeLog
index 056cb7b929d..7868d0b5a9e 100644
--- a/libctf/ChangeLog
+++ b/libctf/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2020-06-26  Nick Alcock  <nick.alcock@oracle.com>
+
+	* ctf-create.c (ctf_add_forward): Don't add forwards to
+	types that already exist.
+
 2020-06-26  Nick Alcock  <nick.alcock@oracle.com>
 
 	* ctf-open.c (init_types): Only intern root-visible types.
diff --git a/libctf/ctf-create.c b/libctf/ctf-create.c
index e8e80287cb3..c24a246c164 100644
--- a/libctf/ctf-create.c
+++ b/libctf/ctf-create.c
@@ -1229,7 +1229,10 @@ ctf_add_forward (ctf_file_t *fp, uint32_t flag, const char *name,
   if (name != NULL)
     type = ctf_lookup_by_rawname (fp, kind, name);
 
-  if ((type = ctf_add_generic (fp, flag, name, CTF_K_FORWARD,&dtd)) == CTF_ERR)
+  if (type)
+    return type;
+
+  if ((type = ctf_add_generic (fp, flag, name, CTF_K_FORWARD, &dtd)) == CTF_ERR)
     return CTF_ERR;		/* errno is set for us.  */
 
   dtd->dtd_data.ctt_info = CTF_TYPE_INFO (CTF_K_FORWARD, flag, 0);