diff --git a/fs/f2fs/super.c b/fs/f2fs/super.c
index d0a659b90665..76d94889e45c 100644
--- a/fs/f2fs/super.c
+++ b/fs/f2fs/super.c
@@ -648,7 +648,7 @@ static int f2fs_set_lz4hc_level(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi, const char *str)
 #ifdef CONFIG_F2FS_FS_ZSTD
 static int f2fs_set_zstd_level(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi, const char *str)
 {
-	unsigned int level;
+	int level;
 	int len = 4;
 
 	if (strlen(str) == len) {
@@ -662,9 +662,15 @@ static int f2fs_set_zstd_level(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi, const char *str)
 		f2fs_info(sbi, "wrong format, e.g. <alg_name>:<compr_level>");
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
-	if (kstrtouint(str + 1, 10, &level))
+	if (kstrtoint(str + 1, 10, &level))
 		return -EINVAL;
 
+	/* f2fs does not support negative compress level now */
+	if (level < 0) {
+		f2fs_info(sbi, "do not support negative compress level: %d", level);
+		return -ERANGE;
+	}
+
 	if (!f2fs_is_compress_level_valid(COMPRESS_ZSTD, level)) {
 		f2fs_info(sbi, "invalid zstd compress level: %d", level);
 		return -EINVAL;