diff --git a/net/rds/rdma_transport.c b/net/rds/rdma_transport.c
index 5f741e51b4ba..bb38124a5d3d 100644
--- a/net/rds/rdma_transport.c
+++ b/net/rds/rdma_transport.c
@@ -86,10 +86,12 @@ static int rds_rdma_cm_event_handler_cmn(struct rdma_cm_id *cm_id,
 		break;
 
 	case RDMA_CM_EVENT_ADDR_RESOLVED:
-		rdma_set_service_type(cm_id, conn->c_tos);
-		/* XXX do we need to clean up if this fails? */
-		ret = rdma_resolve_route(cm_id,
+		if (conn) {
+			rdma_set_service_type(cm_id, conn->c_tos);
+			/* XXX do we need to clean up if this fails? */
+			ret = rdma_resolve_route(cm_id,
 					 RDS_RDMA_RESOLVE_TIMEOUT_MS);
+		}
 		break;
 
 	case RDMA_CM_EVENT_ROUTE_RESOLVED: