diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/audio/gstaudioencoder.c b/gst-libs/gst/audio/gstaudioencoder.c
index 383da3f3c0..5051efa3cc 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/audio/gstaudioencoder.c
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/audio/gstaudioencoder.c
@@ -1495,6 +1495,9 @@ gst_audio_encoder_src_query (GstPad * pad, GstQuery * query)
   gboolean res = FALSE;
 
   enc = GST_AUDIO_ENCODER (GST_PAD_PARENT (pad));
+  if (G_UNLIKELY (enc == NULL))
+    return FALSE;
+
   peerpad = gst_pad_get_peer (GST_PAD (enc->sinkpad));
 
   GST_LOG_OBJECT (enc, "handling query: %" GST_PTR_FORMAT, query);