diff --git a/lib/vhost/rte_vhost/socket.c b/lib/vhost/rte_vhost/socket.c
index 1bc1e64ba..08a17279a 100644
--- a/lib/vhost/rte_vhost/socket.c
+++ b/lib/vhost/rte_vhost/socket.c
@@ -640,7 +640,6 @@ rte_vhost_driver_register(const char *path, uint64_t flags)
 		goto out;
 	}
 	TAILQ_INIT(&vsocket->conn_list);
-	pthread_mutex_init(&vsocket->conn_mutex, NULL);
 	vsocket->dequeue_zero_copy = flags & RTE_VHOST_USER_DEQUEUE_ZERO_COPY;
 
 	/*
@@ -677,6 +676,7 @@ rte_vhost_driver_register(const char *path, uint64_t flags)
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	pthread_mutex_init(&vsocket->conn_mutex, NULL);
 	vhost_user.vsockets[vhost_user.vsocket_cnt++] = vsocket;
 
 out: