diff --git a/k8s-mpam-controller/pkg/agent/mpam.go b/k8s-mpam-controller/pkg/agent/mpam.go
index b14bfeed70a61933c0f278f5ad13b05c3a943247..65d826be40b27cb60726fc48fef17b31f6dcbc7a 100644
--- a/k8s-mpam-controller/pkg/agent/mpam.go
+++ b/k8s-mpam-controller/pkg/agent/mpam.go
@@ -336,6 +336,8 @@ func applyConfig(data *configData) {
 		conf := make(map[string]interface{})
 		if err := yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(val), &conf); err != nil {
 			klog.Errorf("Failed to unmarshal configuration data: %v", err)
+			var yamlGroups []string
+			cleanResctrlGroup(yamlGroups)
 			return
 		}