diff --git a/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/StreamingContext.scala b/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/StreamingContext.scala
index f3b4ff2d1d80..c4718582d7ae 100644
--- a/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/StreamingContext.scala
+++ b/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/StreamingContext.scala
@@ -144,6 +144,13 @@ class StreamingContext private[streaming] (
     }
   }
 
+  if (sc.conf.contains("spark.cores.max")) {
+    val totalCores = sc.conf.getInt("spark.cores.max", 1)
+    if (totalCores <= 1) {
+      throw new SparkException(" Total executor cores (spark.cores.max) must greater than 1")
+    }
+  }
+
   if (sc.conf.get("spark.master") == "local" || sc.conf.get("spark.master") == "local[1]") {
     logWarning("spark.master should be set as local[n], n > 1 in local mode if you have receivers" +
       " to get data, otherwise Spark jobs will not get resources to process the received data.")