diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 6d2599bd66..e9109cb936 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+3789.	[bug]		Null pointer dereference on rbt creation failure.
+
 3788.	[bug]		dns_peer_getrequestsit was returning request_nsid by
 			mistake.
 
diff --git a/lib/dns/rbt.c b/lib/dns/rbt.c
index e1421f826d..4e3b51fd16 100644
--- a/lib/dns/rbt.c
+++ b/lib/dns/rbt.c
@@ -865,7 +865,7 @@ dns_rbt_deserialize_tree(void *base_address, size_t filesize,
 		result = ISC_R_INVALIDFILE;
 
  cleanup:
-	if (result != ISC_R_SUCCESS) {
+	if (result != ISC_R_SUCCESS && rbt != NULL) {
 		rbt->root = NULL;
 		rbt->nodecount = 0;
 		dns_rbt_destroy(&rbt);