diff --git a/sys/compat/linuxkpi/common/src/linux_seq_file.c b/sys/compat/linuxkpi/common/src/linux_seq_file.c
index 6f4f1a368c4..ed23bf8d010 100644
--- a/sys/compat/linuxkpi/common/src/linux_seq_file.c
+++ b/sys/compat/linuxkpi/common/src/linux_seq_file.c
@@ -147,9 +147,15 @@ seq_release(struct inode *inode __unused, struct linux_file *file)
 int
 single_release(struct vnode *v, struct linux_file *f)
 {
-	const struct seq_operations *op = ((struct seq_file *)f->private_data)->op;
+	const struct seq_operations *op;
+	struct seq_file *m;
 	int rc;
 
+	/* be NULL safe */
+	if ((m = f->private_data) == NULL)
+		return (0);
+
+	op = m->op;
 	rc = seq_release(v, f);
 	free(__DECONST(void *, op), M_LSEQ);
 	return (rc);