diff --git a/kernel/auditsc.c b/kernel/auditsc.c
index d81424fbec3a..f6bc31e7dca9 100644
--- a/kernel/auditsc.c
+++ b/kernel/auditsc.c
@@ -1021,7 +1021,7 @@ static int audit_log_single_execve_arg(struct audit_context *context,
 	 * for strings that are too long, we should not have created
 	 * any.
 	 */
-	if (unlikely((len == -1) || len > MAX_ARG_STRLEN - 1)) {
+	if (unlikely((len == 0) || len > MAX_ARG_STRLEN - 1)) {
 		WARN_ON(1);
 		send_sig(SIGKILL, current, 0);
 		return -1;