diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
index 1b42f14ebbda9af13ba9f1bbbeb9053ff382d8e6..8b3f2092736123744a3da050ef40dc8dc5e929bb 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
@@ -3956,6 +3956,8 @@ libxlDomainGetNumaParameters(virDomainPtr dom,
      * the filtering on behalf of older clients that can't parse it. */
     flags &= ~VIR_TYPED_PARAM_STRING_OKAY;
 
+    libxl_bitmap_init(&nodemap);
+
     if (!(vm = libxlDomObjFromDomain(dom)))
         goto cleanup;
 
@@ -3970,8 +3972,6 @@ libxlDomainGetNumaParameters(virDomainPtr dom,
 
     priv = vm->privateData;
 
-    libxl_bitmap_init(&nodemap);
-
     if ((*nparams) == 0) {
         *nparams = LIBXL_NUMA_NPARAM;
         ret = 0;