diff --git a/scripts/headers_install.sh b/scripts/headers_install.sh
index 47f6f3ea0771..bbaf29386995 100755
--- a/scripts/headers_install.sh
+++ b/scripts/headers_install.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,12 @@ TMPFILE=$OUTFILE.tmp
 
 trap 'rm -f $OUTFILE $TMPFILE' EXIT
 
+# SPDX-License-Identifier with GPL variants must have "WITH Linux-syscall-note"
+if [ -n "$(sed -n -e "/SPDX-License-Identifier:.*GPL-/{/WITH Linux-syscall-note/!p}" $INFILE)" ]; then
+	echo "error: $INFILE: missing \"WITH Linux-syscall-note\" for SPDX-License-Identifier" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+
 sed -E -e '
 	s/([[:space:](])(__user|__force|__iomem)[[:space:]]/\1/g
 	s/__attribute_const__([[:space:]]|$)/\1/g