diff --git a/lib/jsonrpc/jsonrpc_server.c b/lib/jsonrpc/jsonrpc_server.c
index 0d799d341..7de51c89e 100644
--- a/lib/jsonrpc/jsonrpc_server.c
+++ b/lib/jsonrpc/jsonrpc_server.c
@@ -71,8 +71,8 @@ parse_single_request(struct spdk_jsonrpc_request *request, struct spdk_json_val
 		goto done;
 	}
 
-	if (!req.version || req.version->type != SPDK_JSON_VAL_STRING ||
-	    !spdk_json_strequal(req.version, "2.0")) {
+	if (req.version && (req.version->type != SPDK_JSON_VAL_STRING ||
+			    !spdk_json_strequal(req.version, "2.0"))) {
 		invalid = true;
 	}