diff --git a/lib/bdev/raid/bdev_raid.c b/lib/bdev/raid/bdev_raid.c
index 64b6d08d4..9b23ae23a 100644
--- a/lib/bdev/raid/bdev_raid.c
+++ b/lib/bdev/raid/bdev_raid.c
@@ -831,7 +831,7 @@ raid_bdev_submit_request(struct spdk_io_channel *ch, struct spdk_bdev_io *bdev_i
 {
 	switch (bdev_io->type) {
 	case SPDK_BDEV_IO_TYPE_READ:
-		if (bdev_io->u.bdev.iovs[0].iov_base == NULL) {
+		if (bdev_io->u.bdev.iovs == NULL || bdev_io->u.bdev.iovs[0].iov_base == NULL) {
 			spdk_bdev_io_get_buf(bdev_io, raid_bdev_get_buf_cb,
 					     bdev_io->u.bdev.num_blocks * bdev_io->bdev->blocklen);
 		} else {