diff --git a/app/models/ip_block.rb b/app/models/ip_block.rb
index d6242efbf7d..06af4fb18dc 100644
--- a/app/models/ip_block.rb
+++ b/app/models/ip_block.rb
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ class IpBlock < ApplicationRecord
     sign_up_requires_approval: 5000,
     sign_up_block: 5500,
     no_access: 9999,
-  }, prefix: true
+  }, prefix: true, validate: true
 
-  validates :ip, :severity, presence: true
+  validates :ip, presence: true
   validates :ip, uniqueness: true
 
   after_commit :reset_cache
diff --git a/spec/models/ip_block_spec.rb b/spec/models/ip_block_spec.rb
index 290b99b2884..5af6db2a5f5 100644
--- a/spec/models/ip_block_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/ip_block_spec.rb
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@ describe IpBlock do
       expect(ip_block).to model_have_error_on_field(:severity)
     end
 
+    it 'validates severity inclusion', :aggregate_failures do
+      ip_block = described_class.new(ip: '127.0.0.1', severity: :invalid)
+
+      expect(ip_block).to_not be_valid
+      expect(ip_block).to model_have_error_on_field(:severity)
+    end
+
     it 'validates ip uniqueness', :aggregate_failures do
       described_class.create!(ip: '127.0.0.1', severity: :no_access)
 
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/v1/admin/ip_blocks_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/v1/admin/ip_blocks_spec.rb
index 98b954dd49f..79418e1f0c4 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/v1/admin/ip_blocks_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/v1/admin/ip_blocks_spec.rb
@@ -166,6 +166,16 @@ RSpec.describe 'IP Blocks' do
         expect(response).to have_http_status(422)
       end
     end
+
+    context 'when the given severity is invalid' do
+      let(:params) { { ip: '151.0.32.55', severity: 'invalid' } }
+
+      it 'returns http unprocessable entity' do
+        subject
+
+        expect(response).to have_http_status(422)
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   describe 'PUT /api/v1/admin/ip_blocks/:id' do