diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/vaapi/gstvaapidecoder_h265.c b/gst-libs/gst/vaapi/gstvaapidecoder_h265.c
index a1c856d353..9d2fa6ee17 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/vaapi/gstvaapidecoder_h265.c
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/vaapi/gstvaapidecoder_h265.c
@@ -2666,14 +2666,9 @@ gst_vaapi_decoder_h265_decode_codec_data (GstVaapiDecoder *
   num_nal_arrays = buf[22];
   ofs = 23;
   for (i = 0; i < num_nal_arrays; i++) {
-    const guchar *data;
-
     if (ofs + 1 > buf_size)
       return GST_VAAPI_DECODER_STATUS_ERROR_NO_DATA;
-    data = buf + ofs + 1;
-    if (!data)
-      return GST_VAAPI_DECODER_STATUS_ERROR_NO_DATA;
-    num_nals = GST_READ_UINT16_BE (data);
+    num_nals = GST_READ_UINT16_BE (buf + ofs + 1);
     /* the max number of nals is GST_H265_MAX_PPS_COUNT (64) */
     if (num_nals > 64)
       return GST_VAAPI_DECODER_STATUS_ERROR_BITSTREAM_PARSER;