diff --git a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/videobuf2-core.c b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/videobuf2-core.c
index 5a5fb7f09b7b..a127925c9d61 100644
--- a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/videobuf2-core.c
+++ b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/videobuf2-core.c
@@ -1776,6 +1776,11 @@ static int vb2_internal_streamon(struct vb2_queue *q, enum v4l2_buf_type type)
 		return 0;
 	}
 
+	if (!q->num_buffers) {
+		dprintk(1, "streamon: no buffers have been allocated\n");
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
 	/*
 	 * If any buffers were queued before streamon,
 	 * we can now pass them to driver for processing.