diff --git a/src/ipc/ipc3/handler.c b/src/ipc/ipc3/handler.c
index d85f8596c..4349c9606 100644
--- a/src/ipc/ipc3/handler.c
+++ b/src/ipc/ipc3/handler.c
@@ -904,8 +904,6 @@ static int ipc_trace_filter_update(uint32_t header)
 	int cnt;
 
 	packet = ipc->comp_data;
-	elem = packet->elems;
-	end = &packet->elems[packet->elem_cnt];
 
 	/* validation, packet->hdr.size has already been compared with SOF_IPC_MSG_MAX_SIZE */
 	if (sizeof(*packet) + sizeof(*elem) * packet->elem_cnt != packet->hdr.size) {
@@ -917,6 +915,9 @@ static int ipc_trace_filter_update(uint32_t header)
 	tr_info(&ipc_tr, "ipc: trace_filter_update received, size %d elems",
 		packet->elem_cnt);
 
+	elem = packet->elems;
+	end = &packet->elems[packet->elem_cnt];
+
 	/* read each filter set and update selected components trace settings */
 	while (elem != end) {
 		next_elem = trace_filter_fill(elem, end, &filter);