diff --git a/msm/sde/sde_encoder.c b/msm/sde/sde_encoder.c
index 8c3e9a31c4..75166d4681 100644
--- a/msm/sde/sde_encoder.c
+++ b/msm/sde/sde_encoder.c
@@ -4670,6 +4670,10 @@ void sde_encoder_kickoff(struct drm_encoder *drm_enc, bool config_changed)
 
 	/* update txq for any output retire hw-fence (wb-path) */
 	sde_kms = sde_encoder_get_kms(&sde_enc->base);
+	if (!sde_kms) {
+		SDE_ERROR("invalid sde_kms\n");
+		return;
+	}
 	if (sde_enc->cur_master)
 		_sde_encoder_update_retire_txq(sde_enc->cur_master, sde_kms);