diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index bca859a6e3fdeee28788490cb62ddfee030d4f31..f67cd5b687719557c8d758d555077a5d6781a2a3 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -1608,7 +1608,8 @@ static int super_1_validate(struct mddev *mddev, struct md_rdev *rdev)
 		++ev1;
 		if (rdev->desc_nr >= 0 &&
 		    rdev->desc_nr < le32_to_cpu(sb->max_dev) &&
-		    le16_to_cpu(sb->dev_roles[rdev->desc_nr]) < MD_DISK_ROLE_MAX)
+		    (le16_to_cpu(sb->dev_roles[rdev->desc_nr]) < MD_DISK_ROLE_MAX ||
+		     le16_to_cpu(sb->dev_roles[rdev->desc_nr]) == MD_DISK_ROLE_JOURNAL))
 			if (ev1 < mddev->events)
 				return -EINVAL;
 	} else if (mddev->bitmap) {