diff --git a/lib/libwebsockets.c b/lib/libwebsockets.c
index c553f10f..bec14f9a 100644
--- a/lib/libwebsockets.c
+++ b/lib/libwebsockets.c
@@ -2150,9 +2150,17 @@ libwebsocket_get_reserved_bits(struct libwebsocket *wsi)
 	return wsi->u.ws.rsv;
 }
 
+/**
+ * libwebsocket_ensure_user_space(): return the user context for the connection if possible
+ * @wsi:	websocket connection instance
+ */
+
 void *
 libwebsocket_ensure_user_space(struct libwebsocket *wsi)
 {
+	if (!wsi->protocol)
+		return NULL;
+
 	/* allocate the per-connection user memory (if any) */
 
 	if (wsi->protocol->per_session_data_size && !wsi->user_space) {
diff --git a/libwebsockets-api-doc.html b/libwebsockets-api-doc.html
index b041e743..7fd87027 100644
--- a/libwebsockets-api-doc.html
+++ b/libwebsockets-api-doc.html
@@ -382,6 +382,16 @@ Some apis can act on all live connections of a given protocol,
 this is how you can get a pointer to the active protocol if needed.
 </blockquote>
 <hr>
+<h2>libwebsocket_ensure_user_space - </h2>
+<i>void *</i>
+<b>libwebsocket_ensure_user_space</b>
+(<i>struct libwebsocket *</i> <b>wsi</b>)
+<h3>Arguments</h3>
+<dl>
+<dt><b>wsi</b>
+<dd>websocket connection instance
+</dl>
+<hr>
 <h2>lws_set_log_level - Set the logging bitfield</h2>
 <i>void</i>
 <b>lws_set_log_level</b>