diff --git a/net/sched/act_api.c b/net/sched/act_api.c
index 2714c4ed928e..eecad65fec92 100644
--- a/net/sched/act_api.c
+++ b/net/sched/act_api.c
@@ -1498,8 +1498,29 @@ int tcf_action_init(struct net *net, struct tcf_proto *tp, struct nlattr *nla,
 			bool skip_sw = tc_skip_sw(fl_flags);
 			bool skip_hw = tc_skip_hw(fl_flags);
 
-			if (tc_act_bind(act->tcfa_flags))
+			if (tc_act_bind(act->tcfa_flags)) {
+				/* Action is created by classifier and is not
+				 * standalone. Check that the user did not set
+				 * any action flags different than the
+				 * classifier flags, and inherit the flags from
+				 * the classifier for the compatibility case
+				 * where no flags were specified at all.
+				 */
+				if ((tc_act_skip_sw(act->tcfa_flags) && !skip_sw) ||
+				    (tc_act_skip_hw(act->tcfa_flags) && !skip_hw)) {
+					NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack,
+						       "Mismatch between action and filter offload flags");
+					err = -EINVAL;
+					goto err;
+				}
+				if (skip_sw)
+					act->tcfa_flags |= TCA_ACT_FLAGS_SKIP_SW;
+				if (skip_hw)
+					act->tcfa_flags |= TCA_ACT_FLAGS_SKIP_HW;
 				continue;
+			}
+
+			/* Action is standalone */
 			if (skip_sw != tc_act_skip_sw(act->tcfa_flags) ||
 			    skip_hw != tc_act_skip_hw(act->tcfa_flags)) {
 				NL_SET_ERR_MSG(extack,