diff --git a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_req.c b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_req.c
index d15826f6ee81..aa3da2733f14 100644
--- a/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_req.c
+++ b/drivers/block/drbd/drbd_req.c
@@ -621,7 +621,8 @@ int __req_mod(struct drbd_request *req, enum drbd_req_event what,
 		break;
 
 	case READ_COMPLETED_WITH_ERROR:
-		drbd_set_out_of_sync(peer_device, req->i.sector, req->i.size);
+		if (peer_device)
+			drbd_set_out_of_sync(peer_device, req->i.sector, req->i.size);
 		drbd_report_io_error(device, req);
 		__drbd_chk_io_error(device, DRBD_READ_ERROR);
 		fallthrough;