diff --git a/pkg/common-controller/snapshot_controller.go b/pkg/common-controller/snapshot_controller.go
index fa4cdc1c9..5d7264f14 100644
--- a/pkg/common-controller/snapshot_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/common-controller/snapshot_controller.go
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import (
 
 	crdv1 "github.com/kubernetes-csi/external-snapshotter/pkg/apis/volumesnapshot/v1beta1"
 	"github.com/kubernetes-csi/external-snapshotter/pkg/utils"
-	"k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	storagev1 "k8s.io/api/storage/v1"
 	apierrs "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/resource"
@@ -1291,6 +1291,9 @@ func (ctrl *csiSnapshotCommonController) getSnapshotFromStore(snapshotName strin
 }
 
 func (ctrl *csiSnapshotCommonController) setAnnVolumeSnapshotBeingDeleted(content *crdv1.VolumeSnapshotContent) error {
+	if content == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
 	// Set AnnVolumeSnapshotBeingDeleted if it is not set yet
 	if !metav1.HasAnnotation(content.ObjectMeta, utils.AnnVolumeSnapshotBeingDeleted) {
 		klog.V(5).Infof("setAnnVolumeSnapshotBeingDeleted: set annotation [%s] on content [%s].", utils.AnnVolumeSnapshotBeingDeleted, content.Name)