diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-10-29-10-58-52.gh-issue-126106.rlF798.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-10-29-10-58-52.gh-issue-126106.rlF798.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..de989007b4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Library/2024-10-29-10-58-52.gh-issue-126106.rlF798.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fixes a possible ``NULL`` pointer dereference in :mod:`ssl`.
diff --git a/Modules/_ssl.c b/Modules/_ssl.c
index 62a94314512..54bac28e5be 100644
--- a/Modules/_ssl.c
+++ b/Modules/_ssl.c
@@ -5424,14 +5424,14 @@ PySSLSession_dealloc(PySSLSession *self)
 static PyObject *
 PySSLSession_richcompare(PyObject *left, PyObject *right, int op)
 {
-    int result;
-    PyTypeObject *sesstype = ((PySSLSession*)left)->ctx->state->PySSLSession_Type;
-
     if (left == NULL || right == NULL) {
         PyErr_BadInternalCall();
         return NULL;
     }
 
+    int result;
+    PyTypeObject *sesstype = ((PySSLSession*)left)->ctx->state->PySSLSession_Type;
+
     if (!Py_IS_TYPE(left, sesstype) || !Py_IS_TYPE(right, sesstype)) {
         Py_RETURN_NOTIMPLEMENTED;
     }