diff --git a/drivers/dma-buf/dma-resv.c b/drivers/dma-buf/dma-resv.c
index e2869fb31140..5f8d010516f0 100644
--- a/drivers/dma-buf/dma-resv.c
+++ b/drivers/dma-buf/dma-resv.c
@@ -186,6 +186,13 @@ int dma_resv_reserve_fences(struct dma_resv *obj, unsigned int num_fences)
 
 	dma_resv_assert_held(obj);
 
+	/* Driver and component code should never call this function with
+	 * num_fences=0. If they do it usually points to bugs when calculating
+	 * the number of needed fences dynamically.
+	 */
+	if (WARN_ON(!num_fences))
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	old = dma_resv_fences_list(obj);
 	if (old && old->max_fences) {
 		if ((old->num_fences + num_fences) <= old->max_fences)