diff --git a/drivers/net/macsec.c b/drivers/net/macsec.c
index 72af6e75ffd1..789a124809e3 100644
--- a/drivers/net/macsec.c
+++ b/drivers/net/macsec.c
@@ -4017,6 +4017,15 @@ static int macsec_newlink(struct net *net, struct net_device *dev,
 	    !macsec_check_offload(macsec->offload, macsec))
 		return -EOPNOTSUPP;
 
+	/* send_sci must be set to true when transmit sci explicitly is set */
+	if ((data && data[IFLA_MACSEC_SCI]) &&
+	    (data && data[IFLA_MACSEC_INC_SCI])) {
+		u8 send_sci = !!nla_get_u8(data[IFLA_MACSEC_INC_SCI]);
+
+		if (!send_sci)
+			return -EINVAL;
+	}
+
 	if (data && data[IFLA_MACSEC_ICV_LEN])
 		icv_len = nla_get_u8(data[IFLA_MACSEC_ICV_LEN]);
 	mtu = real_dev->mtu - icv_len - macsec_extra_len(true);