1 files changed, 2 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/hv.c b/hv.c
index 1fa6d6ff4e..e5bf629b4a 100644
--- a/hv.c
+++ b/hv.c
@@ -3189,7 +3189,7 @@ Perl_refcounted_he_fetch_pvn(pTHX_ const struct refcounted_he *chain,
 	Perl_croak(aTHX_ "panic: refcounted_he_fetch_pvn bad flags %"UVxf,
 	    (UV)flags);
     if (!chain)
-	return &PL_sv_placeholder;
+	goto ret;
     if (flags & REFCOUNTED_HE_KEY_UTF8) {
 	/* For searching purposes, canonicalise to Latin-1 where possible. */
 	const char *keyend = keypv + keylen, *p;
@@ -3249,6 +3249,7 @@ Perl_refcounted_he_fetch_pvn(pTHX_ const struct refcounted_he *chain,
 	    return sv_2mortal(refcounted_he_value(chain));
 	}
     }
+  ret:
     return flags & REFCOUNTED_HE_EXISTS ? NULL : &PL_sv_placeholder;
 }