diff --git a/test/wasi/test-wasi-start-validation.js b/test/wasi/test-wasi-start-validation.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..80fc035d7c9826
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/wasi/test-wasi-start-validation.js
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+'use strict';
+
+require('../common');
+const assert = require('assert');
+const { WASI } = require('wasi');
+
+const fixtures = require('../common/fixtures');
+
+{
+  const wasi = new WASI();
+  assert.throws(
+    () => {
+      wasi.start();
+    },
+    { code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE', message: /\bWebAssembly\.Instance\b/ }
+  );
+}
+
+{
+  const wasi = new WASI({});
+  (async () => {
+    const bufferSource = fixtures.readSync('simple.wasm');
+    const wasm = await WebAssembly.compile(bufferSource);
+    const instance = await WebAssembly.instantiate(wasm);
+
+    assert.throws(
+      () => { wasi.start(instance); },
+      { code: 'ERR_INVALID_ARG_TYPE', message: /\bWebAssembly\.Memory\b/ }
+    );
+  })();
+}