diff --git a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/kata_agent.go b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/kata_agent.go
index 4b3ed16085..2e1bd72761 100644
--- a/src/runtime/virtcontainers/kata_agent.go
+++ b/src/runtime/virtcontainers/kata_agent.go
@@ -411,7 +411,7 @@ func setupSandboxBindMounts(sandbox *Sandbox) error {
 }
 
 func cleanupSandboxBindMounts(sandbox *Sandbox) error {
-	if len(sandbox.config.SandboxBindMounts) == 0 {
+	if sandbox.config == nil || len(sandbox.config.SandboxBindMounts) == 0 {
 		return nil
 	}