diff --git a/fs/overlayfs/super.c b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
index 2c056d737c27c3492938f6b9a18b5e73282e1853..93ee57bc82ade9fd31a05dcca48bf44355a3be59 100644
--- a/fs/overlayfs/super.c
+++ b/fs/overlayfs/super.c
@@ -1180,6 +1180,11 @@ static struct ovl_entry *ovl_get_lowerstack(struct super_block *sb,
 		return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
 	}
 
+	if (ctx->nr == ctx->nr_data) {
+		pr_err("at least one non-data lowerdir is required\n");
+		return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
+	}
+
 	err = -EINVAL;
 	for (i = 0; i < ctx->nr; i++) {
 		l = &ctx->lower[i];