diff --git a/drivers/scsi/esas2r/esas2r_ioctl.c b/drivers/scsi/esas2r/esas2r_ioctl.c
index baf913047b488d43cef1bf04afd9e3e6e5697329..3e8483410f610997746edf9ab65585a1b8982153 100644
--- a/drivers/scsi/esas2r/esas2r_ioctl.c
+++ b/drivers/scsi/esas2r/esas2r_ioctl.c
@@ -1360,14 +1360,15 @@ int esas2r_ioctl_handler(void *hostdata, int cmd, void __user *arg)
 	if (ioctl->header.channel == 0xFF) {
 		a = (struct esas2r_adapter *)hostdata;
 	} else {
-		a = esas2r_adapters[ioctl->header.channel];
-		if (ioctl->header.channel >= MAX_ADAPTERS || (a == NULL)) {
+		if (ioctl->header.channel >= MAX_ADAPTERS ||
+			esas2r_adapters[ioctl->header.channel] == NULL) {
 			ioctl->header.return_code = IOCTL_BAD_CHANNEL;
 			esas2r_log(ESAS2R_LOG_WARN, "bad channel value");
 			kfree(ioctl);
 
 			return -ENOTSUPP;
 		}
+		a = esas2r_adapters[ioctl->header.channel];
 	}
 
 	switch (cmd) {