diff --git a/ssl/s3_enc.c b/ssl/s3_enc.c
index 701ac571798557767d2d1dba7fd92993869c9f5e..96e59f678fc863e9876de6fba027f9988183ac09 100644
--- a/ssl/s3_enc.c
+++ b/ssl/s3_enc.c
@@ -231,6 +231,8 @@ int ssl3_change_cipher_state(SSL *s, int which)
 	is_exp=SSL_C_IS_EXPORT(s->s3->tmp.new_cipher);
 	c=s->s3->tmp.new_sym_enc;
 	m=s->s3->tmp.new_hash;
+	/* m == NULL will lead to a crash later */
+	OPENSSL_assert(m);
 #ifndef OPENSSL_NO_COMP
 	if (s->s3->tmp.new_compression == NULL)
 		comp=NULL;