diff --git a/drivers/net/macsec.c b/drivers/net/macsec.c
index 4c5b67a2d63a..6c0f80bea816 100644
--- a/drivers/net/macsec.c
+++ b/drivers/net/macsec.c
@@ -3259,6 +3259,15 @@ static int macsec_newlink(struct net *net, struct net_device *dev,
 
 	macsec->real_dev = real_dev;
 
+	/* send_sci must be set to true when transmit sci explicitly is set */
+	if ((data && data[IFLA_MACSEC_SCI]) &&
+	    (data && data[IFLA_MACSEC_INC_SCI])) {
+		u8 send_sci = !!nla_get_u8(data[IFLA_MACSEC_INC_SCI]);
+
+		if (!send_sci)
+			return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
 	if (data && data[IFLA_MACSEC_ICV_LEN])
 		icv_len = nla_get_u8(data[IFLA_MACSEC_ICV_LEN]);
 	mtu = real_dev->mtu - icv_len - macsec_extra_len(true);