diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_container.go b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_container.go
index e7c3d0c26e6..d1397478763 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_container.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/dockershim/docker_container.go
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ func (ds *dockerService) ContainerStatus(_ context.Context, req *runtimeapi.Cont
 
 	labels, annotations := extractLabels(r.Config.Labels)
 	imageName := r.Config.Image
-	if len(ir.RepoTags) > 0 {
+	if ir != nil && len(ir.RepoTags) > 0 {
 		imageName = ir.RepoTags[0]
 	}
 	status := &runtimeapi.ContainerStatus{