diff --git a/apache2/msc_lua.c b/apache2/msc_lua.c
index 44faa0ec5b..b165381bd3 100644
--- a/apache2/msc_lua.c
+++ b/apache2/msc_lua.c
@@ -374,26 +374,28 @@ static int l_setvar(lua_State *L) {
     lua_getglobal(L, "__rule");
     rule = (msre_rule *)lua_topointer(L, -1);
 
+    /* A lua_CFunction returns the number of values it pushed, so always
+     * return 0 (the script gets nil), never a negative value or the
+     * status of msre_action_setvar_execute().
+     */
     if(nargs != 2)  {
-        msr_log(msr, 8, "m.setvar: Failed m.setvar funtion must has 2 arguments");
-        return -1;
+        msr_log(msr, 8, "m.setvar: Failed m.setvar function must have 2 arguments");
+        return 0;
     }
     var_value = luaL_checkstring (L, 2);
     var_name = luaL_checkstring (L, 1);
 
     lua_pop(L,2);
 
-    if(var_value == NULL || var_name == NULL)
-        return -1;
-
     chr = strchr((char *)var_name,0x2e);
 
     if(chr == NULL) {
         msr_log(msr, 8, "m.setvar: Must specify a collection using dot character - ie m.setvar(tx.myvar,mydata)");
-        return -1;
+        return 0;
     }
 
-    return msre_action_setvar_execute(msr,msr->msc_rule_mptmp,rule,(char *)var_name,(char *)var_value);
+    msre_action_setvar_execute(msr,msr->msc_rule_mptmp,rule,(char *)var_name,(char *)var_value);
+    return 0;
 }
 
 static const struct luaL_Reg mylib[] = {
diff --git a/tests/regression/rule/00-script.t b/tests/regression/rule/00-script.t
index 8af6d7bb4d..e57bdda397 100644
--- a/tests/regression/rule/00-script.t
+++ b/tests/regression/rule/00-script.t
@@ -61,3 +61,60 @@
 		GET => "http://$ENV{SERVER_NAME}:$ENV{SERVER_PORT}/test.txt",
 	),
 },
+{
+	type => "rule",
+	comment => "SecRuleScript m.setvar without a collection returns nil",
+	conf => qq(
+		SecRuleEngine On
+		SecDebugLog $ENV{DEBUG_LOG}
+		SecDebugLogLevel 9
+		SecRuleScript "setvar-error-nodot.lua" "phase:2,pass"
+	),
+	match_log => {
+		debug => [ qr/m.setvar: Must specify a collection using dot character.*m.setvar\(\) without a collection returned: nil/s, 1 ],
+	},
+	match_response => {
+		status => qr/^200$/,
+	},
+	request => new HTTP::Request(
+		GET => "http://$ENV{SERVER_NAME}:$ENV{SERVER_PORT}/test.txt",
+	),
+},
+{
+	type => "rule",
+	comment => "SecRuleScript m.setvar with one argument returns nil",
+	conf => qq(
+		SecRuleEngine On
+		SecDebugLog $ENV{DEBUG_LOG}
+		SecDebugLogLevel 9
+		SecRuleScript "setvar-error-onearg.lua" "phase:2,pass"
+	),
+	match_log => {
+		debug => [ qr/m.setvar: Failed m.setvar function must have 2 arguments.*m.setvar\(\) with one argument returned: nil/s, 1 ],
+	},
+	match_response => {
+		status => qr/^200$/,
+	},
+	request => new HTTP::Request(
+		GET => "http://$ENV{SERVER_NAME}:$ENV{SERVER_PORT}/test.txt",
+	),
+},
+{
+	type => "rule",
+	comment => "SecRuleScript m.setvar sets a TX variable and returns nil",
+	conf => qq(
+		SecRuleEngine On
+		SecDebugLog $ENV{DEBUG_LOG}
+		SecDebugLogLevel 9
+		SecRuleScript "setvar-tx.lua" "phase:2,pass"
+	),
+	match_log => {
+		debug => [ qr/m.setvar\(\) with TX returned: nil.*tx.a is now: x/s, 1 ],
+	},
+	match_response => {
+		status => qr/^200$/,
+	},
+	request => new HTTP::Request(
+		GET => "http://$ENV{SERVER_NAME}:$ENV{SERVER_PORT}/test.txt",
+	),
+},
diff --git a/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-error-nodot.lua b/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-error-nodot.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..06adaa4220
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-error-nodot.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+function main()
+    local r = m.setvar("novar", "x");
+    m.log(4, "m.setvar() without a collection returned: " .. tostring(r));
+    return nil;
+end
diff --git a/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-error-onearg.lua b/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-error-onearg.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6b200fe852
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-error-onearg.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+function main()
+    local r = m.setvar("tx.a");
+    m.log(4, "m.setvar() with one argument returned: " .. tostring(r));
+    return nil;
+end
diff --git a/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-tx.lua b/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-tx.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..092fd88d64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regression/server_root/conf/setvar-tx.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+function main()
+    local r = m.setvar("tx.a", "x");
+    m.log(4, "m.setvar() with TX returned: " .. tostring(r));
+    m.log(4, "tx.a is now: " .. tostring(m.getvar("tx.a")));
+    return nil;
+end