diff --git a/libweston/compositor-fbdev.c b/libweston/compositor-fbdev.c
index 281e39b97d6dc2ff8463b0d578d8b4737e2eade5..402648d032be21001dd7588eb2981d50dc0f9bb9 100644
--- a/libweston/compositor-fbdev.c
+++ b/libweston/compositor-fbdev.c
@@ -381,6 +381,7 @@ fbdev_frame_buffer_map(struct fbdev_output *output, int fd)
 	if (output->fb == MAP_FAILED) {
 		weston_log("Failed to mmap frame buffer: %s\n",
 		           strerror(errno));
+		output->fb = NULL;
 		goto out_close;
 	}