diff --git a/kernel/sched/core.c b/kernel/sched/core.c
index f2205f02eb70..cdefcf7c5925 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/core.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/core.c
@@ -3662,6 +3662,9 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE3(sched_setattr, pid_t, pid, struct sched_attr __user *, uattr,
 	if (retval)
 		return retval;
 
+	if (attr.sched_policy < 0)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	rcu_read_lock();
 	retval = -ESRCH;
 	p = find_process_by_pid(pid);