diff --git a/drivers/md/dm-writecache.c b/drivers/md/dm-writecache.c
index e974204b0d6f..2b3950dd45e8 100644
--- a/drivers/md/dm-writecache.c
+++ b/drivers/md/dm-writecache.c
@@ -2499,6 +2499,11 @@ static int writecache_ctr(struct dm_target *ti, unsigned int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 
 	if (WC_MODE_PMEM(wc)) {
+		if (!wc->ssd_dev->dax_dev) {
+			r = -EOPNOTSUPP;
+			ti->error = "Cache device is not a DAX device";
+			goto bad;
+		}
 		if (!dax_synchronous(wc->ssd_dev->dax_dev)) {
 			r = -EOPNOTSUPP;
 			ti->error = "Asynchronous persistent memory not supported as pmem cache";