diff --git a/package/mac80211/patches/305-pending-ath9k-allow-to-load-EEPROM-content-via-firmware-API.patch b/package/mac80211/patches/305-pending-ath9k-allow-to-load-EEPROM-content-via-firmware-API.patch
index 78efdc4e37..d710d099ef 100644
--- a/package/mac80211/patches/305-pending-ath9k-allow-to-load-EEPROM-content-via-firmware-API.patch
+++ b/package/mac80211/patches/305-pending-ath9k-allow-to-load-EEPROM-content-via-firmware-API.patch
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ Signed-off-by: Gabor Juhos <juhosg@openwrt.org>
  	ath_read_cachesize(common, &csz);
  	common->cachelsz = csz << 2; /* convert to bytes */
  
-+	if (pdata->eeprom_name) {
++	if (pdata && pdata->eeprom_name) {
 +		ret = ath9k_eeprom_request(sc, pdata->eeprom_name);
 +		if (ret)
 +			goto err_eeprom;