diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index fc3a16650..8b2d92064 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2008-11-25  Daniel Zimmermann  <netzimme@aol.com>
+
+	* src/base/ftstream.c (FT_Stream_ReadFields): Don't access stream
+	before the NULL check.  From Savannah patch #6681.
+
 2008-11-24  Werner Lemberg  <wl@gnu.org>
 
 	Fixes from the gnuwin32 port.
diff --git a/src/base/ftstream.c b/src/base/ftstream.c
index 569e46c79..cff67e0e9 100644
--- a/src/base/ftstream.c
+++ b/src/base/ftstream.c
@@ -707,12 +707,13 @@
   {
     FT_Error  error;
     FT_Bool   frame_accessed = 0;
-    FT_Byte*  cursor = stream->cursor;
-
+    FT_Byte*  cursor;
 
     if ( !fields || !stream )
       return FT_Err_Invalid_Argument;
 
+    cursor = stream->cursor;
+
     error = FT_Err_Ok;
     do
     {