diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/azure/azure_vmss_cache.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/azure/azure_vmss_cache.go
index 7cea160c044..e8caab37f58 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/azure/azure_vmss_cache.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/azure/azure_vmss_cache.go
@@ -193,6 +193,11 @@ func (ss *scaleSet) newVMSSVirtualMachinesCache(resourceGroupName, vmssName, cac
 			}
 
 			computerName := strings.ToLower(*vm.OsProfile.ComputerName)
+			if vm.NetworkProfile == nil || vm.NetworkProfile.NetworkInterfaces == nil {
+				klog.Warningf("skip caching vmssVM %s since its network profile hasn't initialized yet (probably still under creating)", computerName)
+				continue
+			}
+
 			vmssVMCacheEntry := &vmssVirtualMachinesEntry{
 				resourceGroup:  resourceGroupName,
 				vmssName:       vmssName,
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/azure/azure_vmss_test.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/azure/azure_vmss_test.go
index ffba6206dcb..e2adfe25020 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/azure/azure_vmss_test.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/legacy-cloud-providers/azure/azure_vmss_test.go
@@ -1374,16 +1374,25 @@ func TestGetAgentPoolScaleSets(t *testing.T) {
 			{
 				VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties: &compute.VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties{
 					OsProfile: &compute.OSProfile{ComputerName: to.StringPtr("vmss-vm-000000")},
+					NetworkProfile: &compute.NetworkProfile{
+						NetworkInterfaces: &[]compute.NetworkInterfaceReference{},
+					},
 				},
 			},
 			{
 				VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties: &compute.VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties{
 					OsProfile: &compute.OSProfile{ComputerName: to.StringPtr("vmss-vm-000001")},
+					NetworkProfile: &compute.NetworkProfile{
+						NetworkInterfaces: &[]compute.NetworkInterfaceReference{},
+					},
 				},
 			},
 			{
 				VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties: &compute.VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties{
 					OsProfile: &compute.OSProfile{ComputerName: to.StringPtr("vmss-vm-000002")},
+					NetworkProfile: &compute.NetworkProfile{
+						NetworkInterfaces: &[]compute.NetworkInterfaceReference{},
+					},
 				},
 			},
 		}
@@ -1442,6 +1451,20 @@ func TestGetVMSetNames(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 			expectedErr: fmt.Errorf("scale set (vmss-1) - not found"),
 		},
+		{
+			description: "GetVMSetNames should report an error if vm's network profile is nil",
+			service: &v1.Service{
+				ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Annotations: map[string]string{ServiceAnnotationLoadBalancerMode: "vmss"}},
+			},
+			nodes: []*v1.Node{
+				{
+					ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+						Name: "vmss-vm-000003",
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			expectedErr: fmt.Errorf("instance not found"),
+		},
 		{
 			description: "GetVMSetNames should return the correct vmss names",
 			service: &v1.Service{
@@ -1470,16 +1493,30 @@ func TestGetVMSetNames(t *testing.T) {
 			{
 				VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties: &compute.VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties{
 					OsProfile: &compute.OSProfile{ComputerName: to.StringPtr("vmss-vm-000000")},
+					NetworkProfile: &compute.NetworkProfile{
+						NetworkInterfaces: &[]compute.NetworkInterfaceReference{},
+					},
 				},
 			},
 			{
 				VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties: &compute.VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties{
 					OsProfile: &compute.OSProfile{ComputerName: to.StringPtr("vmss-vm-000001")},
+					NetworkProfile: &compute.NetworkProfile{
+						NetworkInterfaces: &[]compute.NetworkInterfaceReference{},
+					},
 				},
 			},
 			{
 				VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties: &compute.VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties{
 					OsProfile: &compute.OSProfile{ComputerName: to.StringPtr("vmss-vm-000002")},
+					NetworkProfile: &compute.NetworkProfile{
+						NetworkInterfaces: &[]compute.NetworkInterfaceReference{},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			{
+				VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties: &compute.VirtualMachineScaleSetVMProperties{
+					OsProfile: &compute.OSProfile{ComputerName: to.StringPtr("vmss-vm-000003")},
 				},
 			},
 		}