diff --git a/libweston/compositor-fbdev.c b/libweston/compositor-fbdev.c
index 6a30538..b1cc5dc 100644
--- a/libweston/compositor-fbdev.c
+++ b/libweston/compositor-fbdev.c
@@ -383,6 +383,7 @@
 	if (output->fb == MAP_FAILED) {
 		weston_log("Failed to mmap frame buffer: %s\n",
 		           strerror(errno));
+		output->fb = NULL;
 		goto out_close;
 	}