diff --git a/src/plugins/wireguard/wireguard_input.c b/src/plugins/wireguard/wireguard_input.c
index dbdcaa0..ba5a1d6 100644
--- a/src/plugins/wireguard/wireguard_input.c
+++ b/src/plugins/wireguard/wireguard_input.c
@@ -902,6 +902,7 @@
 	  last_rec_idx = data->receiver_index;
 	}
 
+      ASSERT (peer != NULL); /* this pointer never should be NULL */
       if (PREDICT_FALSE (wg_input_post_process (vm, b[0], next, peer, data,
 						&is_keepalive) < 0))
 	goto trace;
diff --git a/src/plugins/wireguard/wireguard_noise.h b/src/plugins/wireguard/wireguard_noise.h
index e95211b..b436120 100644
--- a/src/plugins/wireguard/wireguard_noise.h
+++ b/src/plugins/wireguard/wireguard_noise.h
@@ -199,22 +199,22 @@
 static_always_inline noise_keypair_t *
 wg_get_active_keypair (noise_remote_t *r, uint32_t r_idx)
 {
-  if (r->r_current != NULL && r->r_current->kp_local_index == r_idx)
+  if (r->r_current != NULL)
     {
-      return r->r_current;
+      if (r->r_current->kp_local_index == r_idx)
+	return r->r_current;
     }
-  else if (r->r_previous != NULL && r->r_previous->kp_local_index == r_idx)
+  if (r->r_previous != NULL)
     {
-      return r->r_previous;
+      if (r->r_previous->kp_local_index == r_idx)
+	return r->r_previous;
     }
-  else if (r->r_next != NULL && r->r_next->kp_local_index == r_idx)
+  if (r->r_next != NULL)
     {
-      return r->r_next;
+      if (r->r_next->kp_local_index == r_idx)
+	return r->r_next;
     }
-  else
-    {
-      return NULL;
-    }
+  return NULL;
 }
 
 inline bool