diff --git a/linux-core/drm_fops.c b/linux-core/drm_fops.c
index fd1704b8..74c7e93c 100644
--- a/linux-core/drm_fops.c
+++ b/linux-core/drm_fops.c
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ int drm_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp)
 	drm_fasync(-1, filp, 0);
 
 	down(&dev->ctxlist_sem);
-	if (!list_empty(&dev->ctxlist->head)) {
+	if (dev->ctxlist && (!list_empty(&dev->ctxlist->head))) {
 		drm_ctx_list_t *pos, *n;
 
 		list_for_each_entry_safe(pos, n, &dev->ctxlist->head, head) {