diff --git a/kernel/sched/walt/walt_halt.c b/kernel/sched/walt/walt_halt.c
index b91c1d6d28c7..f32ca51d3dff 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/walt/walt_halt.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/walt/walt_halt.c
@@ -271,6 +271,11 @@ static int halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 
 	for_each_cpu(cpu, cpus) {
 
+		if (cpu == cpumask_first(system_32bit_el0_cpumask())) {
+			ret = -EINVAL;
+			goto out;
+		}
+
 		halt_cpu_state = per_cpu_ptr(&halt_state, cpu);
 
 		/* set the cpu as halted */
@@ -290,6 +295,7 @@ static int halt_cpus(struct cpumask *cpus)
 	if (!IS_ERR(walt_drain_thread))
 		wake_up_process(walt_drain_thread);
 
+out:
 	trace_halt_cpus(cpus, start_time, 1, ret);
 
 	return ret;