diff --git a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/videobuf2-core.c b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/videobuf2-core.c
index 8e6695c9b0e22..3c07534e9ba53 100644
--- a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/videobuf2-core.c
+++ b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/videobuf2-core.c
@@ -1832,6 +1832,11 @@ static int vb2_internal_streamon(struct vb2_queue *q, enum v4l2_buf_type type)
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
+	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.