diff --git a/net/netfilter/nft_payload.c b/net/netfilter/nft_payload.c
index b2b63c3653d495b2a4c022fd132c1a068cea6786..56f6c05362ae80bdc08a1bbaad616b0d05efb254 100644
--- a/net/netfilter/nft_payload.c
+++ b/net/netfilter/nft_payload.c
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ void nft_payload_eval(const struct nft_expr *expr,
 
 	switch (priv->base) {
 	case NFT_PAYLOAD_LL_HEADER:
-		if (!skb_mac_header_was_set(skb))
+		if (!skb_mac_header_was_set(skb) || skb_mac_header_len(skb) == 0)
 			goto err;
 
 		if (skb_vlan_tag_present(skb)) {