diff --git a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
index 29aa6c7510..d91744f75f 100644
--- a/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
+++ b/src/libxl/libxl_driver.c
@@ -3958,6 +3958,8 @@ libxlDomainGetNumaParameters(virDomainPtr dom,
      * the filtering on behalf of older clients that can't parse it. */
     flags &= ~VIR_TYPED_PARAM_STRING_OKAY;
 
+    libxl_bitmap_init(&nodemap);
+
     if (!(vm = libxlDomObjFromDomain(dom)))
         goto cleanup;
 
@@ -3972,8 +3974,6 @@ libxlDomainGetNumaParameters(virDomainPtr dom,
 
     priv = vm->privateData;
 
-    libxl_bitmap_init(&nodemap);
-
     if ((*nparams) == 0) {
         *nparams = LIBXL_NUMA_NPARAM;
         ret = 0;