diff --git a/kernel/timer.c b/kernel/timer.c
index 31824ef3eb96..949d74ea0ce4 100644
--- a/kernel/timer.c
+++ b/kernel/timer.c
@@ -1555,9 +1555,8 @@ static int init_timers_cpu(int cpu)
 			if (!base)
 				return -ENOMEM;
 
-			/* Make sure that tvec_base is 2 byte aligned */
-			if (tbase_get_deferrable(base)) {
-				WARN_ON(1);
+			/* Make sure tvec_base has TIMER_FLAG_MASK bits free */
+			if (WARN_ON(base != tbase_get_base(base))) {
 				kfree(base);
 				return -ENOMEM;
 			}