diff --git a/services/auth/session.go b/services/auth/session.go
index 6a23a176651ff..b1986944bb1de 100644
--- a/services/auth/session.go
+++ b/services/auth/session.go
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-// Copyright 2019 The Gitea Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Copyright 2022 The Gitea Authors. All rights reserved.
 // Use of this source code is governed by a MIT-style
 // license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
 
@@ -39,6 +39,10 @@ func (s *Session) Verify(req *http.Request, w http.ResponseWriter, store DataSto
 
 // SessionUser returns the user object corresponding to the "uid" session variable.
 func SessionUser(sess SessionStore) *user_model.User {
+	if sess == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	// Get user ID
 	uid := sess.Get("uid")
 	if uid == nil {