diff --git a/pkg/agent/config/config.go b/pkg/agent/config/config.go
index 7268dfdc9d4..9a337da7635 100644
--- a/pkg/agent/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/agent/config/config.go
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ func splitCertKeyPEM(bytes []byte) (certPem []byte, keyPem []byte) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	return
+	return certPem, keyPem
 }
 
 // getKubeletClientCert fills the kubelet client certificate with content returned
diff --git a/pkg/cgroups/cgroups_linux.go b/pkg/cgroups/cgroups_linux.go
index e2ff531ea1f..e8954041c2e 100644
--- a/pkg/cgroups/cgroups_linux.go
+++ b/pkg/cgroups/cgroups_linux.go
@@ -82,11 +82,11 @@ func CheckCgroups() (kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot string, controllers map[string]boo
 	if cgroupsModeV2 {
 		m, err := cgroupsv2.NewManager("/sys/fs/cgroup", "/", &cgroupsv2.Resources{})
 		if err != nil {
-			return
+			return kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot, controllers
 		}
 		enabledControllers, err := m.Controllers()
 		if err != nil {
-			return
+			return kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot, controllers
 		}
 		// Intentionally using an expressionless switch to match the logic below
 		for _, controller := range enabledControllers {
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ func CheckCgroups() (kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot string, controllers map[string]boo
 
 	f, err := os.Open("/proc/self/cgroup")
 	if err != nil {
-		return
+		return kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot, controllers
 	}
 	defer f.Close()
 
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ func CheckCgroups() (kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot string, controllers map[string]boo
 		// a host PID scenario but we don't support this.
 		g, err := os.Open("/proc/1/cgroup")
 		if err != nil {
-			return
+			return kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot, controllers
 		}
 		defer g.Close()
 		scan = bufio.NewScanner(g)
@@ -174,5 +174,5 @@ func CheckCgroups() (kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot string, controllers map[string]boo
 			}
 		}
 	}
-	return
+	return kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot, controllers
 }
diff --git a/pkg/cgroups/cgroups_windows.go b/pkg/cgroups/cgroups_windows.go
index ae24e3ab198..154dd7ef662 100644
--- a/pkg/cgroups/cgroups_windows.go
+++ b/pkg/cgroups/cgroups_windows.go
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@ func Validate() error {
 }
 
 func CheckCgroups() (kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot string, controllers map[string]bool) {
-	return
+	return kubeletRoot, runtimeRoot, controllers
 }
diff --git a/pkg/configfilearg/parser.go b/pkg/configfilearg/parser.go
index 23267cea068..a1a4b5d61ed 100644
--- a/pkg/configfilearg/parser.go
+++ b/pkg/configfilearg/parser.go
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ func dotDFiles(basefile string) (result []string, _ error) {
 		}
 		result = append(result, filepath.Join(basefile+".d", file.Name()))
 	}
-	return
+	return result, nil
 }
 
 // readConfigFile returns a flattened arg list generated from the specified config
@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ func readConfigFile(file string) (result []string, _ error) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	return
+	return result, nil
 }
 
 func toSlice(v any) []any {
diff --git a/pkg/daemons/control/tunnel.go b/pkg/daemons/control/tunnel.go
index 1a4a959dc6d..8cd111ff4e5 100644
--- a/pkg/daemons/control/tunnel.go
+++ b/pkg/daemons/control/tunnel.go
@@ -297,5 +297,5 @@ func (crw *connReadWriteCloser) Write(b []byte) (n int, err error) {
 
 func (crw *connReadWriteCloser) Close() (err error) {
 	crw.once.Do(func() { err = crw.conn.Close() })
-	return
+	return err
 }