diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_ethtool.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_ethtool.c
index 25ee0606e625..144a77679359 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_ethtool.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/iavf/iavf_ethtool.c
@@ -1787,7 +1787,7 @@ static int iavf_set_channels(struct net_device *netdev,
 	/* All of these should have already been checked by ethtool before this
 	 * even gets to us, but just to be sure.
 	 */
-	if (num_req > adapter->vsi_res->num_queue_pairs)
+	if (num_req == 0 || num_req > adapter->vsi_res->num_queue_pairs)
 		return -EINVAL;
 
 	if (num_req == adapter->num_active_queues)