diff --git a/tools/perf/arch/s390/annotate/instructions.c b/tools/perf/arch/s390/annotate/instructions.c
index c9a81673e8aa..89f0b6c00e3f 100644
--- a/tools/perf/arch/s390/annotate/instructions.c
+++ b/tools/perf/arch/s390/annotate/instructions.c
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ static struct ins_ops *s390__associate_ins_ops(struct arch *arch, const char *na
 	if (!strcmp(name, "br"))
 		ops = &ret_ops;
 
-	arch__associate_ins_ops(arch, name, ops);
+	if (ops)
+		arch__associate_ins_ops(arch, name, ops);
 	return ops;
 }