diff --git a/media/bufferpool/aidl/default/BufferPoolClient.cpp b/media/bufferpool/aidl/default/BufferPoolClient.cpp
index ce4ad8e37f..b61893fdc1 100644
--- a/media/bufferpool/aidl/default/BufferPoolClient.cpp
+++ b/media/bufferpool/aidl/default/BufferPoolClient.cpp
@@ -748,6 +748,10 @@ BufferPoolStatus BufferPoolClient::Impl::fetchBufferHandle(
     } else {
         connection = mRemoteConnection;
     }
+    if (!connection) {
+        ALOGE("connection null: fetchBufferHandle()");
+        return ResultStatus::CRITICAL_ERROR;
+    }
     std::vector<FetchInfo> infos;
     std::vector<FetchResult> results;
     infos.emplace_back(FetchInfo{ToAidl(transactionId), ToAidl(bufferId)});