diff --git a/src/redis-cli.c b/src/redis-cli.c
index ea920569d..7a1f06341 100644
--- a/src/redis-cli.c
+++ b/src/redis-cli.c
@@ -6594,6 +6594,8 @@ static char *fetchMOTDFromCache()
 static void setMOTDCache(const char *sz)
 {
     FILE *pf = fopen(szMotdCachePath(), "wb");
+    if (pf == NULL)
+        return;
     size_t celem = fwrite(sz, strlen(sz), 1, pf);
     (void)celem;    // best effort
     fclose(pf);