diff --git a/kernel/printk.c b/kernel/printk.c
index 286d2c7be52c9ad44c76fa506fe62457830da5e2..1455a0d4eedd4b386c759d689f939ba5d7a9007a 100644
--- a/kernel/printk.c
+++ b/kernel/printk.c
@@ -595,9 +595,6 @@ static size_t log_prefix(const char *p, unsigned int *level, char *special)
 		/* multi digit including the level and facility number */
 		char *endp = NULL;
 
-		if (p[1] < '0' || p[1] > '9')
-			return 0;
-
 		lev = (simple_strtoul(&p[1], &endp, 10) & 7);
 		if (endp == NULL || endp[0] != '>')
 			return 0;