diff --git a/src/backend/utils/sort/tuplesort.c b/src/backend/utils/sort/tuplesort.c
index cbda911f46..52c5ca8b8a 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/sort/tuplesort.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/sort/tuplesort.c
@@ -4697,6 +4697,9 @@ leader_takeover_tapes(Tuplesortstate *state)
 static void
 free_sort_tuple(Tuplesortstate *state, SortTuple *stup)
 {
-	FREEMEM(state, GetMemoryChunkSpace(stup->tuple));
-	pfree(stup->tuple);
+	if (stup->tuple)
+	{
+		FREEMEM(state, GetMemoryChunkSpace(stup->tuple));
+		pfree(stup->tuple);
+	}
 }