diff --git a/kernel/rcu/refscale.c b/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
index 952595c678b3..fb5f20d9486a 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
+++ b/kernel/rcu/refscale.c
@@ -681,6 +681,12 @@ ref_scale_init(void)
 	// Reader tasks (default to ~75% of online CPUs).
 	if (nreaders < 0)
 		nreaders = (num_online_cpus() >> 1) + (num_online_cpus() >> 2);
+	if (WARN_ONCE(loops <= 0, "%s: loops = %ld, adjusted to 1\n", __func__, loops))
+		loops = 1;
+	if (WARN_ONCE(nreaders <= 0, "%s: nreaders = %d, adjusted to 1\n", __func__, nreaders))
+		nreaders = 1;
+	if (WARN_ONCE(nruns <= 0, "%s: nruns = %d, adjusted to 1\n", __func__, nruns))
+		nruns = 1;
 	reader_tasks = kcalloc(nreaders, sizeof(reader_tasks[0]),
 			       GFP_KERNEL);
 	if (!reader_tasks) {