diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_ethtool.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_ethtool.c
index c912e041d102..a49552f3bb87 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_ethtool.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/i40e/i40e_ethtool.c
@@ -2744,11 +2744,15 @@ static void i40e_get_channels(struct net_device *dev,
 static int i40e_set_channels(struct net_device *dev,
 			      struct ethtool_channels *ch)
 {
+	const u8 drop = I40E_FILTER_PROGRAM_DESC_DEST_DROP_PACKET;
 	struct i40e_netdev_priv *np = netdev_priv(dev);
 	unsigned int count = ch->combined_count;
 	struct i40e_vsi *vsi = np->vsi;
 	struct i40e_pf *pf = vsi->back;
+	struct i40e_fdir_filter *rule;
+	struct hlist_node *node2;
 	int new_count;
+	int err = 0;
 
 	/* We do not support setting channels for any other VSI at present */
 	if (vsi->type != I40E_VSI_MAIN)
@@ -2766,6 +2770,26 @@ static int i40e_set_channels(struct net_device *dev,
 	if (count > i40e_max_channels(vsi))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
+	/* verify that the number of channels does not invalidate any current
+	 * flow director rules
+	 */
+	hlist_for_each_entry_safe(rule, node2,
+				  &pf->fdir_filter_list, fdir_node) {
+		if (rule->dest_ctl != drop && count <= rule->q_index) {
+			dev_warn(&pf->pdev->dev,
+				 "Existing user defined filter %d assigns flow to queue %d\n",
+				 rule->fd_id, rule->q_index);
+			err = -EINVAL;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (err) {
+		dev_err(&pf->pdev->dev,
+			"Existing filter rules must be deleted to reduce combined channel count to %d\n",
+			count);
+		return err;
+	}
+
 	/* update feature limits from largest to smallest supported values */
 	/* TODO: Flow director limit, DCB etc */