diff --git a/tools/lib/bpf/btf_dump.c b/tools/lib/bpf/btf_dump.c
index ebf56d21d08eeda2fff570a92491754e6d73773f..cf4db51b99eb5de10f6a890c068944c5f0f22eac 100644
--- a/tools/lib/bpf/btf_dump.c
+++ b/tools/lib/bpf/btf_dump.c
@@ -225,6 +225,9 @@ static void btf_dump_free_names(struct hashmap *map)
 	size_t bkt;
 	struct hashmap_entry *cur;
 
+	if (!map)
+		return;
+
 	hashmap__for_each_entry(map, cur, bkt)
 		free((void *)cur->pkey);