diff --git a/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c b/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
index c445d57e3a5b..b149a7219084 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nf_tables_api.c
@@ -220,6 +220,18 @@ static int nft_delchain(struct nft_ctx *ctx)
 	return err;
 }
 
+/* either expr ops provide both activate/deactivate, or neither */
+static bool nft_expr_check_ops(const struct nft_expr_ops *ops)
+{
+	if (!ops)
+		return true;
+
+	if (WARN_ON_ONCE((!ops->activate ^ !ops->deactivate)))
+		return false;
+
+	return true;
+}
+
 static void nft_rule_expr_activate(const struct nft_ctx *ctx,
 				   struct nft_rule *rule)
 {
@@ -1724,6 +1736,9 @@ static int nf_tables_delchain(struct net *net, struct sock *nlsk,
  */
 int nft_register_expr(struct nft_expr_type *type)
 {
+	if (!nft_expr_check_ops(type->ops))
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	nfnl_lock(NFNL_SUBSYS_NFTABLES);
 	if (type->family == NFPROTO_UNSPEC)
 		list_add_tail_rcu(&type->list, &nf_tables_expressions);
@@ -1873,6 +1888,10 @@ static int nf_tables_expr_parse(const struct nft_ctx *ctx,
 			err = PTR_ERR(ops);
 			goto err1;
 		}
+		if (!nft_expr_check_ops(ops)) {
+			err = -EINVAL;
+			goto err1;
+		}
 	} else
 		ops = type->ops;