diff --git a/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-tmc-etf.c b/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-tmc-etf.c
index f54dcd6cd8a2..0aec7d36ae6f 100644
--- a/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-tmc-etf.c
+++ b/drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-tmc-etf.c
@@ -237,6 +237,9 @@ static int tmc_enable_etf_sink_perf(struct coresight_device *csdev, void *data)
 	struct perf_output_handle *handle = data;
 	struct cs_buffers *buf = etm_perf_sink_config(handle);
 
+	if (!buf)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	spin_lock_irqsave(&drvdata->spinlock, flags);
 	do {
 		ret = -EINVAL;