diff --git a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls.c b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls.c
index dd1db678718c80568c6520b69e4e7b34d22df7b1..4e53a8654690e8e85f0e5d8d7db7679a1fc28105 100644
--- a/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls.c
+++ b/drivers/media/v4l2-core/v4l2-ctrls.c
@@ -2818,7 +2818,7 @@ static int prepare_ext_ctrls(struct v4l2_ctrl_handler *hdl,
 static int class_check(struct v4l2_ctrl_handler *hdl, u32 which)
 {
 	if (which == 0 || which == V4L2_CTRL_WHICH_DEF_VAL)
-		return list_empty(&hdl->ctrl_refs) ? -EINVAL : 0;
+		return 0;
 	return find_ref_lock(hdl, which | 1) ? 0 : -EINVAL;
 }