diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/selection.c b/drivers/tty/vt/selection.c
index e172ede235a0..a2afc3d35fd0 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/selection.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/selection.c
@@ -183,6 +183,20 @@ int set_selection_user(const struct tiocl_selection __user *sel,
 	if (copy_from_user(&v, sel, sizeof(*sel)))
 		return -EFAULT;
 
+	/*
+	 * TIOCL_SELCLEAR, TIOCL_SELPOINTER and TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT are OK to
+	 * use without CAP_SYS_ADMIN as they do not modify the selection.
+	 */
+	switch (v.sel_mode) {
+	case TIOCL_SELCLEAR:
+	case TIOCL_SELPOINTER:
+	case TIOCL_SELMOUSEREPORT:
+		break;
+	default:
+		if (!capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
+			return -EPERM;
+	}
+
 	return set_selection_kernel(&v, tty);
 }
 
diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
index 9bdbf2a4684f..3bec3381accf 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
@@ -3157,8 +3157,6 @@ int tioclinux(struct tty_struct *tty, unsigned long arg)
 
 	switch (type) {
 	case TIOCL_SETSEL:
-		if (!capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
-			return -EPERM;
 		return set_selection_user(param, tty);
 	case TIOCL_PASTESEL:
 		if (!capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))