diff --git a/panda/src/gobj/geomVertexArrayData.I b/panda/src/gobj/geomVertexArrayData.I
index 046cfc0014..fd6a4f7a83 100644
--- a/panda/src/gobj/geomVertexArrayData.I
+++ b/panda/src/gobj/geomVertexArrayData.I
@@ -391,6 +391,9 @@ INLINE unsigned char *GeomVertexArrayDataHandle::
 get_pointer() {
   nassertr(_writable, NULL);
   check_resident();
+  if (_cdata->_data.size() == 0) {
+    return NULL;
+  }
   return &_cdata->_data[0];
 }