diff --git a/sys/dev/sound/pcm/sndstat.c b/sys/dev/sound/pcm/sndstat.c
--- a/sys/dev/sound/pcm/sndstat.c
+++ b/sys/dev/sound/pcm/sndstat.c
@@ -705,7 +705,7 @@
 	}
 	*nvl = nvlist_unpack(nvlbuf, nbytes, 0);
 	free(nvlbuf, M_DEVBUF);
-	if (nvl == NULL) {
+	if (*nvl == NULL) {
 		return (EINVAL);
 	}