diff --git a/kernel/time/clocksource.c b/kernel/time/clocksource.c
index 3130f24daf59..353829883e66 100644
--- a/kernel/time/clocksource.c
+++ b/kernel/time/clocksource.c
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ static void clocksource_verify_choose_cpus(void)
 {
 	int cpu, i, n = verify_n_cpus;
 
-	if (n < 0) {
+	if (n < 0 || n >= num_online_cpus()) {
 		/* Check all of the CPUs. */
 		cpumask_copy(&cpus_chosen, cpu_online_mask);
 		cpumask_clear_cpu(smp_processor_id(), &cpus_chosen);