diff --git a/app/test-eventdev/evt_options.c b/app/test-eventdev/evt_options.c
index 0d04ea9f8d0..8c9d3fcdce9 100644
--- a/app/test-eventdev/evt_options.c
+++ b/app/test-eventdev/evt_options.c
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ evt_parse_plcores(struct evt_options *opt, const char *corelist)
 {
 	int ret;
 
-	ret = parse_lcores_list(opt->plcores, corelist);
+	ret = parse_lcores_list(opt->plcores, RTE_MAX_LCORE, corelist);
 	if (ret == -E2BIG)
 		evt_err("duplicate lcores in plcores");
 
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ evt_parse_work_lcores(struct evt_options *opt, const char *corelist)
 {
 	int ret;
 
-	ret = parse_lcores_list(opt->wlcores, corelist);
+	ret = parse_lcores_list(opt->wlcores, RTE_MAX_LCORE, corelist);
 	if (ret == -E2BIG)
 		evt_err("duplicate lcores in wlcores");
 
diff --git a/app/test-eventdev/parser.c b/app/test-eventdev/parser.c
index 24f1855e9a6..7a973cbb238 100644
--- a/app/test-eventdev/parser.c
+++ b/app/test-eventdev/parser.c
@@ -310,7 +310,7 @@ parse_hex_string(char *src, uint8_t *dst, uint32_t *size)
 }
 
 int
-parse_lcores_list(bool lcores[], const char *corelist)
+parse_lcores_list(bool lcores[], int lcores_num, const char *corelist)
 {
 	int i, idx = 0;
 	int min, max;
@@ -332,6 +332,8 @@ parse_lcores_list(bool lcores[], const char *corelist)
 		if (*corelist == '\0')
 			return -1;
 		idx = strtoul(corelist, &end, 10);
+		if (idx < 0 || idx > lcores_num)
+			return -1;
 
 		if (end == NULL)
 			return -1;
@@ -343,7 +345,7 @@ parse_lcores_list(bool lcores[], const char *corelist)
 			max = idx;
 			if (min == RTE_MAX_LCORE)
 				min = idx;
-			for (idx = min; idx <= max; idx++) {
+			for (idx = min; idx < max; idx++) {
 				if (lcores[idx] == 1)
 					return -E2BIG;
 				lcores[idx] = 1;
diff --git a/app/test-eventdev/parser.h b/app/test-eventdev/parser.h
index 673ff22d788..696b40a3e2a 100644
--- a/app/test-eventdev/parser.h
+++ b/app/test-eventdev/parser.h
@@ -46,5 +46,5 @@ int parse_hex_string(char *src, uint8_t *dst, uint32_t *size);
 
 int parse_tokenize_string(char *string, char *tokens[], uint32_t *n_tokens);
 
-int parse_lcores_list(bool lcores[], const char *corelist);
+int parse_lcores_list(bool lcores[], int lcores_num, const char *corelist);
 #endif