diff --git a/net/sched/act_api.c b/net/sched/act_api.c
index db83dac1e7f4..316c98bb87e4 100644
--- a/net/sched/act_api.c
+++ b/net/sched/act_api.c
@@ -662,6 +662,13 @@ int tcf_action_destroy(struct tc_action *actions[], int bind)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+static int tcf_action_destroy_1(struct tc_action *a, int bind)
+{
+	struct tc_action *actions[] = { a, NULL };
+
+	return tcf_action_destroy(actions, bind);
+}
+
 static int tcf_action_put(struct tc_action *p)
 {
 	return __tcf_action_put(p, false);
@@ -881,17 +888,16 @@ struct tc_action *tcf_action_init_1(struct net *net, struct tcf_proto *tp,
 	if (TC_ACT_EXT_CMP(a->tcfa_action, TC_ACT_GOTO_CHAIN)) {
 		err = tcf_action_goto_chain_init(a, tp);
 		if (err) {
-			struct tc_action *actions[] = { a, NULL };
-
-			tcf_action_destroy(actions, bind);
+			tcf_action_destroy_1(a, bind);
 			NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack, "Failed to init TC action chain");
 			return ERR_PTR(err);
 		}
 	}
 
 	if (!tcf_action_valid(a->tcfa_action)) {
-		NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack, "invalid action value, using TC_ACT_UNSPEC instead");
-		a->tcfa_action = TC_ACT_UNSPEC;
+		tcf_action_destroy_1(a, bind);
+		NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack, "Invalid control action value");
+		return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
 	}
 
 	return a;
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tc-tests/actions/police.json b/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tc-tests/actions/police.json
index f03763d81617..30f9b54bd666 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tc-tests/actions/police.json
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/tc-testing/tc-tests/actions/police.json
@@ -312,6 +312,54 @@
             "$TC actions flush action police"
         ]
     },
+    {
+        "id": "6aaf",
+        "name": "Add police actions with conform-exceed control pass/pipe [with numeric values]",
+        "category": [
+            "actions",
+            "police"
+        ],
+        "setup": [
+            [
+                "$TC actions flush action police",
+                0,
+                1,
+                255
+            ]
+        ],
+        "cmdUnderTest": "$TC actions add action police rate 3mbit burst 250k conform-exceed 0/3 index 1",
+        "expExitCode": "0",
+        "verifyCmd": "$TC actions get action police index 1",
+        "matchPattern": "action order [0-9]*:  police 0x1 rate 3Mbit burst 250Kb mtu 2Kb action pass/pipe",
+        "matchCount": "1",
+        "teardown": [
+            "$TC actions flush action police"
+        ]
+    },
+    {
+        "id": "29b1",
+        "name": "Add police actions with conform-exceed control <invalid>/drop",
+        "category": [
+            "actions",
+            "police"
+        ],
+        "setup": [
+            [
+                "$TC actions flush action police",
+                0,
+                1,
+                255
+            ]
+        ],
+        "cmdUnderTest": "$TC actions add action police rate 3mbit burst 250k conform-exceed 10/drop index 1",
+        "expExitCode": "255",
+        "verifyCmd": "$TC actions ls action police",
+        "matchPattern": "action order [0-9]*:  police 0x1 rate 3Mbit burst 250Kb mtu 2Kb action ",
+        "matchCount": "0",
+        "teardown": [
+            "$TC actions flush action police"
+        ]
+    },
     {
         "id": "c26f",
         "name": "Add police action with invalid peakrate value",