diff --git a/gst-libs/gst/vaapi/gstvaapidecoder.c b/gst-libs/gst/vaapi/gstvaapidecoder.c
index 0e9d276426..bec06f5700 100644
--- a/gst-libs/gst/vaapi/gstvaapidecoder.c
+++ b/gst-libs/gst/vaapi/gstvaapidecoder.c
@@ -483,8 +483,10 @@ gst_vaapi_decoder_finalize (GObject * object)
     decoder->frames = NULL;
   }
 
-  gst_vaapi_context_unref (decoder->context);
-  decoder->context = NULL;
+  if (decoder->context) {
+    gst_vaapi_context_unref (decoder->context);
+    decoder->context = NULL;
+  }
   decoder->va_context = VA_INVALID_ID;
 
   gst_vaapi_display_replace (&decoder->display, NULL);