diff --git a/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c b/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
index 83a67be6b..829c6c513 100644
--- a/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
+++ b/lib/nvme/nvme_pcie.c
@@ -254,6 +254,7 @@ _nvme_pcie_hotplug_monitor(void *cb_ctx, spdk_nvme_probe_cb probe_cb,
 	struct spdk_uevent event;
 	struct spdk_pci_addr pci_addr;
 	union spdk_nvme_csts_register csts;
+	struct spdk_nvme_ctrlr_process *proc;
 
 	while (spdk_get_uevent(hotplug_fd, &event) > 0) {
 		if (event.subsystem == SPDK_NVME_UEVENT_SUBSYSTEM_UIO ||
@@ -294,13 +295,17 @@ _nvme_pcie_hotplug_monitor(void *cb_ctx, spdk_nvme_probe_cb probe_cb,
 
 	/* This is a work around for vfio-attached device hot remove detection. */
 	TAILQ_FOREACH_SAFE(ctrlr, &g_spdk_nvme_driver->shared_attached_ctrlrs, tailq, tmp) {
-		csts = spdk_nvme_ctrlr_get_regs_csts(ctrlr);
-		if (csts.raw == 0xffffffffU) {
-			nvme_ctrlr_fail(ctrlr, true);
-			if (remove_cb) {
-				nvme_robust_mutex_unlock(&g_spdk_nvme_driver->lock);
-				remove_cb(cb_ctx, ctrlr);
-				nvme_robust_mutex_lock(&g_spdk_nvme_driver->lock);
+		/* NVMe controller BAR must be mapped to secondary process space before any access. */
+		proc = spdk_nvme_ctrlr_get_current_process(ctrlr);
+		if (proc) {
+			csts = spdk_nvme_ctrlr_get_regs_csts(ctrlr);
+			if (csts.raw == 0xffffffffU) {
+				nvme_ctrlr_fail(ctrlr, true);
+				if (remove_cb) {
+					nvme_robust_mutex_unlock(&g_spdk_nvme_driver->lock);
+					remove_cb(cb_ctx, ctrlr);
+					nvme_robust_mutex_lock(&g_spdk_nvme_driver->lock);
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	}