diff --git a/libavutil/hwcontext_vulkan.c b/libavutil/hwcontext_vulkan.c
index f1e750cd3e..4ac1058181 100644
--- a/libavutil/hwcontext_vulkan.c
+++ b/libavutil/hwcontext_vulkan.c
@@ -1150,7 +1150,8 @@ static void vulkan_device_free(AVHWDeviceContext *ctx)
     FFVulkanFunctions *vk = &p->vkfn;
     AVVulkanDeviceContext *hwctx = ctx->hwctx;
 
-    vk->DestroyDevice(hwctx->act_dev, hwctx->alloc);
+    if (hwctx->act_dev)
+        vk->DestroyDevice(hwctx->act_dev, hwctx->alloc);
 
     if (p->debug_ctx)
         vk->DestroyDebugUtilsMessengerEXT(hwctx->inst, p->debug_ctx,