diff --git a/lib/nvmf/ctrlr.c b/lib/nvmf/ctrlr.c
index 65562bf28..529b8b901 100644
--- a/lib/nvmf/ctrlr.c
+++ b/lib/nvmf/ctrlr.c
@@ -3601,9 +3601,6 @@ spdk_nvmf_request_zcopy_start(struct spdk_nvmf_request *req)
 		goto end;
 	}
 
-	/* backward compatible */
-	req->data = req->iov[0].iov_base;
-
 	/* Set iovcnt to be the maximum number of
 	 * iovs that the ZCOPY can use
 	 */
diff --git a/lib/nvmf/ctrlr_bdev.c b/lib/nvmf/ctrlr_bdev.c
index 5710cadbb..d301689d5 100644
--- a/lib/nvmf/ctrlr_bdev.c
+++ b/lib/nvmf/ctrlr_bdev.c
@@ -816,11 +816,15 @@ nvmf_bdev_ctrlr_start_zcopy_complete(struct spdk_bdev_io *bdev_io, bool success,
 	spdk_bdev_io_get_iovec(bdev_io, &iov, &iovcnt);
 
 	assert(iovcnt <= NVMF_REQ_MAX_BUFFERS);
+	assert(iovcnt > 0);
 
 	req->iovcnt = iovcnt;
 
 	assert(req->iov == iov);
 
+	/* backward compatible */
+	req->data = req->iov[0].iov_base;
+
 	req->zcopy_bdev_io = bdev_io; /* Preserve the bdev_io for the end zcopy */
 
 	spdk_nvmf_request_complete(req);