diff --git a/security/selinux/ss/services.c b/security/selinux/ss/services.c
index b4feecc3fe01..18caa16de27b 100644
--- a/security/selinux/ss/services.c
+++ b/security/selinux/ss/services.c
@@ -1231,6 +1231,10 @@ static int security_context_to_sid_core(const char *scontext, u32 scontext_len,
 	struct context context;
 	int rc = 0;
 
+	/* An empty security context is never valid. */
+	if (!scontext_len)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	if (!ss_initialized) {
 		int i;