diff --git a/src/plugins/cppeditor/cppfunctiondecldeflink.cpp b/src/plugins/cppeditor/cppfunctiondecldeflink.cpp
index 2534df0d97b..58dd27e2f59 100644
--- a/src/plugins/cppeditor/cppfunctiondecldeflink.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/cppeditor/cppfunctiondecldeflink.cpp
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@ static QSharedPointer<FunctionDeclDefLink> findLinkHelper(QSharedPointer<Functio
     // the parens are necessary for finding good places for changes
     if (!targetFuncDecl->lparen_token || !targetFuncDecl->rparen_token)
         return noResult;
+    QTC_ASSERT(targetFuncDecl->symbol, return noResult);
     // if the source and target argument counts differ, something is wrong
     QTC_ASSERT(targetFuncDecl->symbol->argumentCount() == link->sourceFunction->argumentCount(), return noResult);