diff --git a/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-common.c b/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-common.c
index 43e6fa5886da77..16ce9f3b7c7558 100644
--- a/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-common.c
+++ b/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-common.c
@@ -164,6 +164,16 @@ static const struct vimc_pix_map vimc_pix_map_list[] = {
 	},
 };
 
+bool vimc_is_source(struct media_entity *ent)
+{
+	unsigned int i;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < ent->num_pads; i++)
+		if (ent->pads[i].flags & MEDIA_PAD_FL_SINK)
+			return false;
+	return true;
+}
+
 const struct vimc_pix_map *vimc_pix_map_by_index(unsigned int i)
 {
 	if (i >= ARRAY_SIZE(vimc_pix_map_list))
diff --git a/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-common.h b/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-common.h
index bf729fcde6a91a..87eb8259c2a8e5 100644
--- a/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-common.h
+++ b/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-common.h
@@ -139,6 +139,14 @@ struct vimc_ent_config {
 	void (*rm)(struct vimc_device *vimc, struct vimc_ent_device *ved);
 };
 
+/**
+ * vimc_is_source - returns true if the entity has only source pads
+ *
+ * @ent: pointer to &struct media_entity
+ *
+ */
+bool vimc_is_source(struct media_entity *ent);
+
 /* prototypes for vimc_ent_config add and rm hooks */
 struct vimc_ent_device *vimc_cap_add(struct vimc_device *vimc,
 				     const char *vcfg_name);
diff --git a/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-streamer.c b/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-streamer.c
index 1349be188a5b12..cd6b55433c9eee 100644
--- a/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-streamer.c
+++ b/drivers/media/platform/vimc/vimc-streamer.c
@@ -104,9 +104,18 @@ static int vimc_streamer_pipeline_init(struct vimc_stream *stream,
 		}
 
 		entity = vimc_get_source_entity(ved->ent);
-		/* Check if the end of the pipeline was reached*/
-		if (!entity)
+		/* Check if the end of the pipeline was reached */
+		if (!entity) {
+			/* the first entity of the pipe should be source only */
+			if (!vimc_is_source(ved->ent)) {
+				dev_err(ved->dev,
+					"first entity in the pipe '%s' is not a source\n",
+					ved->ent->name);
+				vimc_streamer_pipeline_terminate(stream);
+				return -EPIPE;
+			}
 			return 0;
+		}
 
 		/* Get the next device in the pipeline */
 		if (is_media_entity_v4l2_subdev(entity)) {