diff --git a/pkg/api/helpers.go b/pkg/api/helpers.go
index c78ef0e89a..f70f959f01 100644
--- a/pkg/api/helpers.go
+++ b/pkg/api/helpers.go
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ func SysctlsFromPodAnnotation(annotation string) ([]Sysctl, error) {
 	sysctls := make([]Sysctl, len(kvs))
 	for i, kv := range kvs {
 		cs := strings.Split(kv, "=")
-		if len(cs) != 2 {
+		if len(cs) != 2 || len(cs[0]) == 0 {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("sysctl %q not of the format sysctl_name=value", kv)
 		}
 		sysctls[i].Name = cs[0]
diff --git a/pkg/api/helpers_test.go b/pkg/api/helpers_test.go
index 70abca2a1b..1e8a5bd222 100644
--- a/pkg/api/helpers_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/helpers_test.go
@@ -508,6 +508,14 @@ func TestSysctlsFromPodAnnotation(t *testing.T) {
 			annotation: "foo.bar",
 			expectErr:  true,
 		},
+		{
+			annotation: "=123",
+			expectErr:  true,
+		},
+		{
+			annotation:  "foo.bar=",
+			expectValue: []Sysctl{{Name: "foo.bar", Value: ""}},
+		},
 		{
 			annotation:  "foo.bar=42",
 			expectValue: []Sysctl{{Name: "foo.bar", Value: "42"}},