diff --git a/src/detect-engine.c b/src/detect-engine.c
index 9877c6c906..bcd6c373f4 100644
--- a/src/detect-engine.c
+++ b/src/detect-engine.c
@@ -1130,7 +1130,9 @@ void InspectionBufferInit(InspectionBuffer *buffer, uint32_t initial_size)
 void InspectionBufferSetupMulti(InspectionBuffer *buffer,
                                 const DetectEngineTransforms *transforms,
                                 const uint8_t *data, const uint32_t data_len) {
+#ifdef DEBUG_VALIDATION
   DEBUG_VALIDATE_BUG_ON(!buffer->multi);
+#endif
   buffer->inspect = buffer->orig = data;
   buffer->inspect_len = buffer->orig_len = data_len;
   buffer->len = 0;
@@ -1142,7 +1144,9 @@ void InspectionBufferSetupMulti(InspectionBuffer *buffer,
 void InspectionBufferSetup(DetectEngineThreadCtx *det_ctx, const int list_id,
                            InspectionBuffer *buffer, const uint8_t *data,
                            const uint32_t data_len) {
+#ifdef DEBUG_VALIDATION
   DEBUG_VALIDATE_BUG_ON(buffer->multi);
+#endif
   if (buffer->inspect == NULL) {
 #ifdef UNITTESTS
     if (det_ctx && list_id != -1)