diff --git a/core/types/arb_types.go b/core/types/arb_types.go
index 08a0b1b783..08f099dcd1 100644
--- a/core/types/arb_types.go
+++ b/core/types/arb_types.go
@@ -504,7 +504,7 @@ func (info HeaderInfo) UpdateHeaderWithInfo(header *Header) {
 }
 
 func DeserializeHeaderExtraInformation(header *Header) HeaderInfo {
-	if header.BaseFee == nil || header.BaseFee.Sign() == 0 || len(header.Extra) != 32 || header.Difficulty.Cmp(common.Big1) != 0 {
+	if header == nil || header.BaseFee == nil || header.BaseFee.Sign() == 0 || len(header.Extra) != 32 || header.Difficulty.Cmp(common.Big1) != 0 {
 		// imported blocks have no base fee
 		// The genesis block doesn't have an ArbOS encoded extra field
 		return HeaderInfo{}