diff --git a/app/models/ip_block.rb b/app/models/ip_block.rb
index 416ae38382..4c95ac38de 100644
--- a/app/models/ip_block.rb
+++ b/app/models/ip_block.rb
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ 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, uniqueness: true
diff --git a/spec/models/ip_block_spec.rb b/spec/models/ip_block_spec.rb
index 93ee72423b..856d55be9d 100644
--- a/spec/models/ip_block_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/ip_block_spec.rb
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ RSpec.describe IpBlock do
     it { is_expected.to validate_presence_of(:severity) }
 
     it { is_expected.to validate_uniqueness_of(:ip) }
+
+    it { is_expected.to allow_values(:sign_up_requires_approval, :sign_up_block, :no_access).for(:severity) }
   end
 
   describe '#to_log_human_identifier' do
diff --git a/spec/requests/api/v1/admin/ip_blocks_spec.rb b/spec/requests/api/v1/admin/ip_blocks_spec.rb
index aa3db33915..59ef8d2966 100644
--- a/spec/requests/api/v1/admin/ip_blocks_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/api/v1/admin/ip_blocks_spec.rb
@@ -187,6 +187,16 @@ RSpec.describe 'IP Blocks' do
           .to start_with('application/json')
       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