diff --git a/lib/linux_compat.c b/lib/linux_compat.c
index 6373b4451e..81ea8fb126 100644
--- a/lib/linux_compat.c
+++ b/lib/linux_compat.c
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ void *kmalloc(size_t size, int flags)
 	void *p;
 
 	p = malloc_cache_aligned(size);
-	if (flags & __GFP_ZERO)
+	if (p && flags & __GFP_ZERO)
 		memset(p, 0, size);
 
 	return p;