diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
index ac35bccadb7b..f8517cd28feb 100644
--- a/mm/memcontrol.c
+++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
@@ -1148,7 +1148,7 @@ bool __mem_cgroup_same_or_subtree(const struct mem_cgroup *root_memcg,
 {
 	if (root_memcg == memcg)
 		return true;
-	if (!root_memcg->use_hierarchy)
+	if (!root_memcg->use_hierarchy || !memcg)
 		return false;
 	return css_is_ancestor(&memcg->css, &root_memcg->css);
 }