diff --git a/db/version_set.cc b/db/version_set.cc
index 50dfbe3c18e..f7c05b9ab67 100644
--- a/db/version_set.cc
+++ b/db/version_set.cc
@@ -2832,7 +2832,7 @@ void VersionStorageInfo::GetOverlappingInputsRangeBinarySearch(
   // If there were no overlapping files, return immediately.
   if (!foundOverlap) {
     if (next_smallest) {
-      next_smallest = nullptr;
+      *next_smallest = nullptr;
     }
     return;
   }