diff --git a/repos/dde_linux/src/include/lx_emul/impl/slab.h b/repos/dde_linux/src/include/lx_emul/impl/slab.h
index abf0699879..575b10a25d 100644
--- a/repos/dde_linux/src/include/lx_emul/impl/slab.h
+++ b/repos/dde_linux/src/include/lx_emul/impl/slab.h
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ void *kmalloc(size_t size, gfp_t flags)
 		? Lx::Malloc::dma().alloc(size)
 		: Lx::Malloc::mem().alloc(size);
 
+	if (!addr)
+		return 0;
+
 	if ((Genode::addr_t)addr & 0x3)
 		Genode::error("unaligned kmalloc ", (Genode::addr_t)addr);