diff --git a/lib/pipeline.c b/lib/pipeline.c
index 8d2544b83..270df4192 100644
--- a/lib/pipeline.c
+++ b/lib/pipeline.c
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ CURLMcode Curl_pipeline_set_site_blacklist(char **sites,
 bool Curl_pipeline_server_blacklisted(struct SessionHandle *handle,
                                       char *server_name)
 {
-  if(handle->multi) {
+  if(handle->multi && server_name) {
     struct curl_llist *blacklist =
       Curl_multi_pipelining_server_bl(handle->multi);