diff --git a/kernel/sysctl.c b/kernel/sysctl.c
index f8576509c7be..4c4fd4339d33 100644
--- a/kernel/sysctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sysctl.c
@@ -1411,7 +1411,7 @@ static struct ctl_table vm_table[] = {
 		.procname	= "drop_caches",
 		.data		= &sysctl_drop_caches,
 		.maxlen		= sizeof(int),
-		.mode		= 0644,
+		.mode		= 0200,
 		.proc_handler	= drop_caches_sysctl_handler,
 		.extra1		= &one,
 		.extra2		= &four,