diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/pool/validation/DefaultDirContextValidator.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/pool/validation/DefaultDirContextValidator.java
index 78491ecb..644cba66 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/pool/validation/DefaultDirContextValidator.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/pool/validation/DefaultDirContextValidator.java
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ public class DefaultDirContextValidator implements DirContextValidator {
             if(this.logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
                 this.logger.debug("DirContext '" + dirContext + "' failed validation with an exception.", e);
             }
+			return false;
         }
 
         if (this.logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/pool2/validation/DefaultDirContextValidator.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/pool2/validation/DefaultDirContextValidator.java
index 9b593032..ebccf61b 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/pool2/validation/DefaultDirContextValidator.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ldap/pool2/validation/DefaultDirContextValidator.java
@@ -181,6 +181,7 @@ public class DefaultDirContextValidator implements DirContextValidator {
             if(this.logger.isDebugEnabled()) {
                 this.logger.debug("DirContext '" + dirContext + "' failed validation with an exception.", e);
             }
+			return false;
         }
 
         if (this.logger.isDebugEnabled()) {