diff --git a/drivers/md/md.c b/drivers/md/md.c
index a31d1c5afb0373996d831840d7f6c612937740a9..759b91d2b537b0427d8ea21c324bbd29a4635947 100644
--- a/drivers/md/md.c
+++ b/drivers/md/md.c
@@ -2860,8 +2860,10 @@ state_store(struct md_rdev *rdev, const char *buf, size_t len)
 			err = 0;
 		}
 	} else if (cmd_match(buf, "re-add")) {
-		if (test_bit(Faulty, &rdev->flags) && (rdev->raid_disk == -1) &&
-			rdev->saved_raid_disk >= 0) {
+		if (!rdev->mddev->pers)
+			err = -EINVAL;
+		else if (test_bit(Faulty, &rdev->flags) && (rdev->raid_disk == -1) &&
+				rdev->saved_raid_disk >= 0) {
 			/* clear_bit is performed _after_ all the devices
 			 * have their local Faulty bit cleared. If any writes
 			 * happen in the meantime in the local node, they