diff --git a/src/app-layer-protos.h b/src/app-layer-protos.h
index 170a735b99..3bc023c599 100644
--- a/src/app-layer-protos.h
+++ b/src/app-layer-protos.h
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@ static inline bool AppProtoEquals(AppProto sigproto, AppProto alproto)
         case ALPROTO_HTTP:
             return (alproto == ALPROTO_HTTP1) || (alproto == ALPROTO_HTTP2) ||
                    (alproto == ALPROTO_HTTP);
+        case ALPROTO_DCERPC:
+            return (alproto == ALPROTO_DCERPC || alproto == ALPROTO_SMB);
     }
     return (sigproto == alproto);
 }
diff --git a/src/detect-parse.c b/src/detect-parse.c
index b1b1e7cb8f..f43736ce3e 100644
--- a/src/detect-parse.c
+++ b/src/detect-parse.c
@@ -1495,6 +1495,15 @@ int DetectSignatureSetAppProto(Signature *s, AppProto alproto)
         return -1;
     }
 
+    /* since AppProtoEquals is quite permissive wrt dcerpc and smb, make sure
+     * we refuse `alert dcerpc ... smb.share; content...` explicitly. */
+    if (alproto == ALPROTO_SMB && s->alproto == ALPROTO_DCERPC) {
+        SCLogError(SC_ERR_CONFLICTING_RULE_KEYWORDS,
+                "can't set rule app proto to %s: already set to %s", AppProtoToString(alproto),
+                AppProtoToString(s->alproto));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     if (s->alproto != ALPROTO_UNKNOWN && !AppProtoEquals(s->alproto, alproto)) {
         if (AppProtoEquals(alproto, s->alproto)) {
             // happens if alproto = HTTP_ANY and s->alproto = HTTP1
diff --git a/src/detect.c b/src/detect.c
index 9916134864..2888fb3636 100644
--- a/src/detect.c
+++ b/src/detect.c
@@ -778,15 +778,8 @@ static inline void DetectRulePacketRules(
         /* if the sig has alproto and the session as well they should match */
         if (likely(sflags & SIG_FLAG_APPLAYER)) {
             if (s->alproto != ALPROTO_UNKNOWN && !AppProtoEquals(s->alproto, scratch->alproto)) {
-                if (s->alproto == ALPROTO_DCERPC) {
-                    if (scratch->alproto != ALPROTO_SMB) {
-                        SCLogDebug("DCERPC sig, alproto not SMB");
-                        goto next;
-                    }
-                } else {
-                    SCLogDebug("alproto mismatch");
-                    goto next;
-                }
+                SCLogDebug("alproto mismatch");
+                goto next;
             }
         }