diff --git a/vllm_ascend/utils.py b/vllm_ascend/utils.py
index 00014c802c3..7e207c7d71a 100644
--- a/vllm_ascend/utils.py
+++ b/vllm_ascend/utils.py
@@ -810,7 +810,7 @@ def _is_contain_expert(config: Any):
 def is_vl_model(vllm_config: VllmConfig):
     """Checks if the model is a VL model by config"""
     global _IS_VL_MODEL
-    if _IS_VL_MODEL is None and vllm_config.model_config:
+    if _IS_VL_MODEL is None and vllm_config and vllm_config.model_config:
         model_configs = vllm_config.model_config.hf_config.to_dict()
         _IS_VL_MODEL = "VL" in model_configs["architectures"][0]
     return _IS_VL_MODEL