diff --git a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/os/posix/nvgpu.c b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/os/posix/nvgpu.c
index f9cd2aacd..94ba24a42 100644
--- a/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/os/posix/nvgpu.c
+++ b/drivers/gpu/nvgpu/os/posix/nvgpu.c
@@ -82,12 +82,13 @@ struct gk20a *nvgpu_posix_probe(void)
 	struct nvgpu_os_posix *p;
 
 	p = malloc(sizeof(*p));
-	(void) memset(p, 0, sizeof(*p));
 
 	if (p == NULL) {
 		return NULL;
 	}
 
+	(void) memset(p, 0, sizeof(*p));
+
 	g = &p->g;
 	g->log_mask = 0;
 	g->mm.g = g;