in find_inode_fast: --> struct inode *inode = NULL; repeat: hlist_for_each_entry(inode, head, i_hash) { --> if (inode->i_ino != ino) continue; The data structure is initialized as NULL, is there any guarantee that the head of the list it points to after hlist_for_each_entry() won't be a null value? The assignment seems to assume that the head will always have a struct available to assign to the pointer. Based on static analysis tool