diff --git a/arch/hexagon/include/asm/uaccess.h b/arch/hexagon/include/asm/uaccess.h
index f000a382bc7f..f61cfb28e9f2 100644
--- a/arch/hexagon/include/asm/uaccess.h
+++ b/arch/hexagon/include/asm/uaccess.h
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ static inline long hexagon_strncpy_from_user(char *dst, const char __user *src,
 {
 	long res = __strnlen_user(src, n);
 
-	/* return from strnlen can't be zero -- that would be rubbish. */
+	if (unlikely(!res))
+		return -EFAULT;
 
 	if (res > n) {
 		copy_from_user(dst, src, n);