diff --git a/net/tipc/socket.c b/net/tipc/socket.c
index e53003cf7703af30f3eaaf0d904f339ce3c7e757..9b713e0ce00dbb79487e979337f449248cc78a51 100644
--- a/net/tipc/socket.c
+++ b/net/tipc/socket.c
@@ -2814,6 +2814,9 @@ int tipc_nl_publ_dump(struct sk_buff *skb, struct netlink_callback *cb)
 		if (err)
 			return err;
 
+		if (!attrs[TIPC_NLA_SOCK])
+			return -EINVAL;
+
 		err = nla_parse_nested(sock, TIPC_NLA_SOCK_MAX,
 				       attrs[TIPC_NLA_SOCK],
 				       tipc_nl_sock_policy);