diff --git a/repos/base/src/core/include/signal_broker.h b/repos/base/src/core/include/signal_broker.h
index cb0548f116..dcc5245d68 100644
--- a/repos/base/src/core/include/signal_broker.h
+++ b/repos/base/src/core/include/signal_broker.h
@@ -75,18 +75,22 @@ class Genode::Signal_broker
 
 		void free_context(Signal_context_capability context_cap)
 		{
-			Signal_context_component *context;
+			Signal_context_component *context = nullptr;
 
 			_context_ep.apply(context_cap, [&] (Signal_context_component *c) {
-				context = c;
-				if (!context) {
+
+				if (!c) {
 					warning("specified signal-context capability has wrong type");
 					return;
 				}
 
+				context = c;
+
 				_context_ep.dissolve(context);
 			});
-			destroy(&_contexts_slab, context);
+
+			if (context)
+				destroy(&_contexts_slab, context);
 		}
 
 		void submit(Signal_context_capability cap, unsigned cnt)