diff --git a/module/zfs/spa.c b/module/zfs/spa.c
index 77b24034d1d9..52d4df9320bd 100644
--- a/module/zfs/spa.c
+++ b/module/zfs/spa.c
@@ -5210,7 +5210,7 @@ spa_open_common(const char *pool, spa_t **spapp, void *tag, nvlist_t *nvpolicy,
 	 * If we've recovered the pool, pass back any information we
 	 * gathered while doing the load.
 	 */
-	if (state == SPA_LOAD_RECOVER) {
+	if (state == SPA_LOAD_RECOVER && config != NULL) {
 		fnvlist_add_nvlist(*config, ZPOOL_CONFIG_LOAD_INFO,
 		    spa->spa_load_info);
 	}