diff --git a/include/spdk/env.h b/include/spdk/env.h
index e735d80d9..83903b96d 100644
--- a/include/spdk/env.h
+++ b/include/spdk/env.h
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@ struct spdk_env_opts {
  * \param socket_id Socket ID to allocate memory on, or SPDK_ENV_SOCKET_ID_ANY
  * for any socket.
  * \param flags Combination of SPDK_MALLOC flags (\ref SPDK_MALLOC_DMA, \ref SPDK_MALLOC_SHARE).
+ * At least one flag must be specified.
  *
  * \return a pointer to the allocated memory buffer.
  */
diff --git a/lib/env_dpdk/env.c b/lib/env_dpdk/env.c
index 93f627294..426fad4c6 100644
--- a/lib/env_dpdk/env.c
+++ b/lib/env_dpdk/env.c
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ virt_to_phys(void *vaddr)
 void *
 spdk_malloc(size_t size, size_t align, uint64_t *phys_addr, int socket_id, uint32_t flags)
 {
+	if (flags == 0) {
+		return NULL;
+	}
+
 	void *buf = rte_malloc_socket(NULL, size, align, socket_id);
 	if (buf && phys_addr) {
 		*phys_addr = virt_to_phys(buf);