diff --git a/pkg/btf/validation.go b/pkg/btf/validation.go
index 14fd423c91b..2416129985b 100644
--- a/pkg/btf/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/btf/validation.go
@@ -224,6 +224,9 @@ func typesCompatible(specTy string, kernelTy string) bool {
 
 func validateSycall(kspec *v1alpha1.KProbeSpec, name string) error {
 	if kspec.Return {
+		if kspec.ReturnArg == nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("missing information for syscall %s: returnArg is missing", name)
+		}
 		if !typesCompatible(kspec.ReturnArg.Type, "long") {
 			return fmt.Errorf("unexpected syscall spec return type: %s", kspec.ReturnArg.Type)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/sensors/tracing/kprobe_validation_test.go b/pkg/sensors/tracing/kprobe_validation_test.go
index 1146fe289ae..1c981508cbf 100644
--- a/pkg/sensors/tracing/kprobe_validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/sensors/tracing/kprobe_validation_test.go
@@ -229,3 +229,22 @@ spec:
 	assert.Error(t, err)
 
 }
+
+func TestKprobeValidationMissingReturnArg(t *testing.T) {
+
+	// missing returnArg while having return: true
+
+	crd := `
+apiVersion: cilium.io/v1alpha1
+metadata:
+  name: "missing-returnarg"
+spec:
+  kprobes:
+  - call: "sys_openat"
+    return: true
+    syscall: true
+`
+
+	err := checkCrd(t, crd)
+	assert.Error(t, err)
+}