diff --git a/drivers/infiniband/ulp/rtrs/rtrs-clt-sysfs.c b/drivers/infiniband/ulp/rtrs/rtrs-clt-sysfs.c
index dbf9a778c3bd..583c38eb0432 100644
--- a/drivers/infiniband/ulp/rtrs/rtrs-clt-sysfs.c
+++ b/drivers/infiniband/ulp/rtrs/rtrs-clt-sysfs.c
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ static ssize_t mpath_policy_store(struct device *dev,
 
 	/* distinguish "mi" and "min-latency" with length */
 	len = strnlen(buf, NAME_MAX);
-	if (buf[len - 1] == '\n')
+	if (len && buf[len - 1] == '\n')
 		len--;
 
 	if (!strncasecmp(buf, "round-robin", 11) ||