diff --git a/crates/test-programs/wasi-tests/src/bin/poll_oneoff.rs b/crates/test-programs/wasi-tests/src/bin/poll_oneoff.rs
index 235e2d874132..e87e70726824 100644
--- a/crates/test-programs/wasi-tests/src/bin/poll_oneoff.rs
+++ b/crates/test-programs/wasi-tests/src/bin/poll_oneoff.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,18 @@ unsafe fn poll_oneoff_impl(r#in: &[wasi::Subscription], nexpected: usize) -> Vec
     out
 }
 
+unsafe fn test_empty_poll() {
+    let r#in = [];
+    let mut out: Vec<wasi::Event> = Vec::new();
+    let error = wasi::poll_oneoff(r#in.as_ptr(), out.as_mut_ptr(), r#in.len())
+        .expect_err("empty poll_oneoff should fail");
+    assert_eq!(
+        error.raw_error(),
+        wasi::ERRNO_INVAL,
+        "error should be EINVAL"
+    );
+}
+
 unsafe fn test_timeout() {
     let clock = wasi::SubscriptionClock {
         id: wasi::CLOCKID_MONOTONIC,
@@ -220,6 +232,7 @@ unsafe fn test_fd_readwrite_invalid_fd() {
 
 unsafe fn test_poll_oneoff(dir_fd: wasi::Fd) {
     test_timeout();
+    test_empty_poll();
     // NB we assume that stdin/stdout/stderr are valid and open
     // for the duration of the test case
     test_stdin_read();
diff --git a/crates/wasi-common/src/hostcalls_impl/misc.rs b/crates/wasi-common/src/hostcalls_impl/misc.rs
index 893d3dae0b73..f07aa727f4da 100644
--- a/crates/wasi-common/src/hostcalls_impl/misc.rs
+++ b/crates/wasi-common/src/hostcalls_impl/misc.rs
@@ -218,6 +218,12 @@ pub(crate) fn poll_oneoff(
 
     let mut timeout: Option<ClockEventData> = None;
     let mut fd_events = Vec::new();
+
+    // As mandated by the WASI spec:
+    // > If `nsubscriptions` is 0, returns `errno::inval`.
+    if subscriptions.is_empty() {
+        return Err(Error::EINVAL);
+    }
     for subscription in subscriptions {
         match subscription.r#type {
             wasi::__WASI_EVENTTYPE_CLOCK => {
@@ -280,6 +286,9 @@ pub(crate) fn poll_oneoff(
     log::debug!("poll_oneoff timeout = {:?}", timeout);
     log::debug!("poll_oneoff fd_events = {:?}", fd_events);
 
+    // The underlying implementation should successfully and immediately return
+    // if no events have been passed. Such situation may occur if all provided
+    // events have been filtered out as errors in the code above.
     hostcalls_impl::poll_oneoff(timeout, fd_events, &mut events)?;
 
     let events_count = u32::try_from(events.len()).map_err(|_| Error::EOVERFLOW)?;