diff --git a/drivers/media/media-entity.c b/drivers/media/media-entity.c
index 153a4646981400f05d60bddc658bd43a5a0f6ff3..767fe55ba08eece04b1873250dc09683a3af641e 100644
--- a/drivers/media/media-entity.c
+++ b/drivers/media/media-entity.c
@@ -235,8 +235,8 @@ __must_check int media_entity_pipeline_start(struct media_entity *entity,
 	media_entity_graph_walk_start(&graph, entity);
 
 	while ((entity = media_entity_graph_walk_next(&graph))) {
-		DECLARE_BITMAP(active, entity->num_pads);
-		DECLARE_BITMAP(has_no_links, entity->num_pads);
+		DECLARE_BITMAP(active, MEDIA_ENTITY_MAX_PADS);
+		DECLARE_BITMAP(has_no_links, MEDIA_ENTITY_MAX_PADS);
 		unsigned int i;
 
 		entity->stream_count++;
diff --git a/include/media/media-entity.h b/include/media/media-entity.h
index 0c003d8174937ba47afa097d6a54b4fb8adce31d..197f9379975395dd259defbeb92bf0a5eccd2e86 100644
--- a/include/media/media-entity.h
+++ b/include/media/media-entity.h
@@ -116,6 +116,13 @@ static inline u32 media_entity_subtype(struct media_entity *entity)
 #define MEDIA_ENTITY_ENUM_MAX_DEPTH	16
 #define MEDIA_ENTITY_ENUM_MAX_ID	64
 
+/*
+ * The number of pads can't be bigger than the number of entities,
+ * as the worse-case scenario is to have one entity linked up to
+ * MEDIA_ENTITY_ENUM_MAX_ID - 1 entities.
+ */
+#define MEDIA_ENTITY_MAX_PADS		(MEDIA_ENTITY_ENUM_MAX_ID - 1)
+
 struct media_entity_graph {
 	struct {
 		struct media_entity *entity;