diff --git a/src/system/kernel/vm/vm.cpp b/src/system/kernel/vm/vm.cpp
index bf86415edd..f5093a5134 100644
--- a/src/system/kernel/vm/vm.cpp
+++ b/src/system/kernel/vm/vm.cpp
@@ -4234,6 +4234,11 @@ is_page_in_physical_memory_range(kernel_args* args, phys_addr_t address)
 page_num_t
 vm_allocate_early_physical_page(kernel_args* args)
 {
+	if (args->num_physical_allocated_ranges == 0) {
+		panic("early physical page allocations no longer possible!");
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	for (uint32 i = 0; i < args->num_physical_allocated_ranges; i++) {
 		phys_addr_t nextPage;
 
@@ -4306,9 +4311,12 @@ vm_allocate_early(kernel_args* args, size_t virtualSize, size_t physicalSize,
 
 		//dprintf("vm_allocate_early: paddr 0x%lx\n", physicalAddress);
 
-		arch_vm_translation_map_early_map(args, virtualBase + i * B_PAGE_SIZE,
+		status_t status = arch_vm_translation_map_early_map(args,
+			virtualBase + i * B_PAGE_SIZE,
 			physicalAddress * B_PAGE_SIZE, attributes,
 			&vm_allocate_early_physical_page);
+		if (status != B_OK)
+			panic("error mapping early page!");
 	}
 
 	return virtualBase;
diff --git a/src/system/kernel/vm/vm_page.cpp b/src/system/kernel/vm/vm_page.cpp
index 842d3f8bfb..e4cae65cad 100644
--- a/src/system/kernel/vm/vm_page.cpp
+++ b/src/system/kernel/vm/vm_page.cpp
@@ -3374,6 +3374,10 @@ vm_page_init(kernel_args *args)
 			args->physical_allocated_range[i].size / B_PAGE_SIZE, true);
 	}
 
+	// prevent future accesses to the kernel args ranges
+	args->num_physical_memory_ranges = 0;
+	args->num_physical_allocated_ranges = 0;
+
 	// The target of actually free pages. This must be at least the system
 	// reserve, but should be a few more pages, so we don't have to extract
 	// a cached page with each allocation.