diff --git a/locale/loadlocale.c b/locale/loadlocale.c
index bc9102bf28..5073bd4be3 100644
--- a/locale/loadlocale.c
+++ b/locale/loadlocale.c
@@ -204,6 +204,9 @@ void
 _nl_free_locale (struct locale_data *data)
 {
   int save = errno;
+  if (! data)
+    /* Ignore a null pointer, like free does.  */
+    return;
   if (__munmap ((caddr_t) data->filedata, data->filesize) < 0)
     {
       if (errno == ENOSYS)