diff --git a/ext/simplexml/simplexml.c b/ext/simplexml/simplexml.c
index 516163594d5..a57929c5f44 100644
--- a/ext/simplexml/simplexml.c
+++ b/ext/simplexml/simplexml.c
@@ -2619,7 +2619,7 @@ PHP_FUNCTION(simplexml_import_dom)
 		nodep = xmlDocGetRootElement((xmlDocPtr) nodep);
 	}
 
-	if (nodep->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) {
+	if (nodep && nodep->type == XML_ELEMENT_NODE) {
 		if (!ce) {
 			ce = sxe_class_entry;
 			fptr_count = NULL;
diff --git a/ext/simplexml/tests/bug81325.phpt b/ext/simplexml/tests/bug81325.phpt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b4010dd1f0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ext/simplexml/tests/bug81325.phpt
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+--TEST--
+BUg #81325 (segfault in zif_simplexml_import_dom)
+--SKIPIF--
+<?php
+if (!extension_loaded('simplexml')) die('skip simplexml not available');
+if (!extension_loaded('dom')) die('skip simplexml not available');
+?>
+--FILE--
+<?php
+$dom = new DOMDocument;
+$dom->loadXML("foo");
+$xml = simplexml_import_dom($dom);
+?>
+Done
+--EXPECTF--
+Warning: DOMDocument::loadXML(): Start tag expected%s
+
+Warning: simplexml_import_dom(): Invalid Nodetype%s
+Done