diff --git a/net/core/sock.c b/net/core/sock.c
index 09d31a7dc68f..d76218ab4999 100644
--- a/net/core/sock.c
+++ b/net/core/sock.c
@@ -3718,6 +3718,10 @@ int proto_register(struct proto *prot, int alloc_slab)
 {
 	int ret = -ENOBUFS;
 
+	if (prot->memory_allocated && !prot->sysctl_mem) {
+		pr_err("%s: missing sysctl_mem\n", prot->name);
+		return -EINVAL;
+	}
 	if (alloc_slab) {
 		prot->slab = kmem_cache_create_usercopy(prot->name,
 					prot->obj_size, 0,