diff --git a/net/mac80211/rx.c b/net/mac80211/rx.c
index 76478362a538..006cf89df70b 100644
--- a/net/mac80211/rx.c
+++ b/net/mac80211/rx.c
@@ -2441,9 +2441,21 @@ void ieee80211_rx(struct ieee80211_hw *hw, struct sk_buff *skb)
 		goto drop;
 
 	if (status->flag & RX_FLAG_HT) {
-		/* rate_idx is MCS index */
-		if (WARN_ON(status->rate_idx < 0 ||
-			    status->rate_idx >= 76))
+		/*
+		 * rate_idx is MCS index, which can be [0-76] as documented on:
+		 *
+		 * http://wireless.kernel.org/en/developers/Documentation/ieee80211/802.11n
+		 *
+		 * Anything else would be some sort of driver or hardware error.
+		 * The driver should catch hardware errors.
+		 */
+		if (WARN((status->rate_idx < 0 ||
+			 status->rate_idx > 76),
+			 "Rate marked as an HT rate but passed "
+			 "status->rate_idx is not "
+			 "an MCS index [0-76]: %d (0x%02x)\n",
+			 status->rate_idx,
+			 status->rate_idx))
 			goto drop;
 		/* HT rates are not in the table - use the highest legacy rate
 		 * for now since other parts of mac80211 may not yet be fully