diff --git a/drivers/acpi/acpica/nsxfeval.c b/drivers/acpi/acpica/nsxfeval.c
index b38b4b07f86e31d8920a7b1467ba4fb6604fc6eb..481a6b4a9b2ffbeb64418abd6b458697faa74eb5 100644
--- a/drivers/acpi/acpica/nsxfeval.c
+++ b/drivers/acpi/acpica/nsxfeval.c
@@ -605,11 +605,19 @@ acpi_walk_namespace(acpi_object_type type,
 		goto unlock_and_exit;
 	}
 
+	/* Now we can validate the starting node */
+
+	if (!acpi_ns_validate_handle(start_object)) {
+		status = AE_BAD_PARAMETER;
+		goto unlock_and_exit2;
+	}
+
 	status = acpi_ns_walk_namespace(type, start_object, max_depth,
 					ACPI_NS_WALK_UNLOCK,
 					descending_callback, ascending_callback,
 					context, return_value);
 
+      unlock_and_exit2:
 	(void)acpi_ut_release_mutex(ACPI_MTX_NAMESPACE);
 
       unlock_and_exit: