diff --git a/net/tipc/name_distr.c b/net/tipc/name_distr.c
index 3cfeb9df64b0008b894e7495cb0a00dd23938844..e0a3dd424d8c2fc1b93ace436ed6c4d7c58c0dd1 100644
--- a/net/tipc/name_distr.c
+++ b/net/tipc/name_distr.c
@@ -221,7 +221,8 @@ static void tipc_publ_purge(struct net *net, struct publication *publ, u32 addr)
 		       publ->key);
 	}
 
-	kfree_rcu(p, rcu);
+	if (p)
+		kfree_rcu(p, rcu);
 }
 
 /**