diff --git a/ext/dom/document.c b/ext/dom/document.c
index 933ea76a4fe..bdb58497b9d 100644
--- a/ext/dom/document.c
+++ b/ext/dom/document.c
@@ -1625,7 +1625,7 @@ static xmlDocPtr dom_document_parser(zval *id, int mode, char *source, int optio
 			EG(error_reporting) = old_error_reporting;
 		}
 		/* If loading from memory, set the base reference uri for the document */
-		if (ret->URL == NULL && ctxt->directory != NULL) {
+		if (ret && ret->URL == NULL && ctxt->directory != NULL) {
 			ret->URL = xmlStrdup(ctxt->directory);
 		}
 	} else {