diff --git a/src/app-layer-detect-proto.c b/src/app-layer-detect-proto.c
index a6980d7116..0652f1a5ae 100644
--- a/src/app-layer-detect-proto.c
+++ b/src/app-layer-detect-proto.c
@@ -369,7 +369,12 @@ void *AppLayerDetectProtoThread(void *td)
             mutex_lock(&smsg->flow->m);
             if (store == 1) {
                 /* store */
-                ssn->l7data[al_proto_id] = (void *)al_proto;
+                if (ssn != NULL && ssn->l7data != NULL) {
+                    ssn->l7data[al_proto_id] = (void *)al_proto;
+                } else {
+                    al_proto->proto = 0;
+                    PoolReturn(al_detect_proto_pool,(void *)al_proto);
+                }
                 store = 0;
             }
             /* XXX we need to improve this logic */
diff --git a/src/app-layer-parser.c b/src/app-layer-parser.c
index e37918ed5f..e485ef8ff8 100644
--- a/src/app-layer-parser.c
+++ b/src/app-layer-parser.c
@@ -456,7 +456,8 @@ int AppLayerParse(Flow *f, uint8_t proto, uint8_t flags, uint8_t *input, uint32_
             return -1;
 
         mutex_lock(&f->m);
-        ssn->l7data[app_layer_sid] = (void *)parser_state_store;
+        if (ssn->l7data != NULL) /** \todo remove once we fixed ssn timeouts */
+            ssn->l7data[app_layer_sid] = (void *)parser_state_store;
         mutex_unlock(&f->m);
     }
 
@@ -492,14 +493,19 @@ int AppLayerParse(Flow *f, uint8_t proto, uint8_t flags, uint8_t *input, uint32_
         parser_state->flags |= APP_LAYER_PARSER_EOF;
 
     /* See if we already have a 'app layer' state */
-    void *app_layer_state = ssn->l7data[p->storage_id];
+    void *app_layer_state = NULL;
+    mutex_lock(&f->m);
+    if (ssn->l7data != NULL) /** \todo remove once we fixed ssn timeouts */
+        app_layer_state = ssn->l7data[p->storage_id];
+    mutex_unlock(&f->m);
     if (app_layer_state == NULL) {
         app_layer_state = p->StateAlloc();
         if (app_layer_state == NULL)
             return -1;
 
         mutex_lock(&f->m);
-        ssn->l7data[p->storage_id] = app_layer_state;
+        if (ssn->l7data != NULL) /** \todo remove once we fixed ssn timeouts */
+            ssn->l7data[p->storage_id] = app_layer_state;
         mutex_unlock(&f->m);
     }