diff --git a/pkg/service/rtcservice.go b/pkg/service/rtcservice.go
index 04685b1e9..6f18356df 100644
--- a/pkg/service/rtcservice.go
+++ b/pkg/service/rtcservice.go
@@ -254,6 +254,9 @@ func (s *RTCService) validateInternal(
 	} else {
 		lgr.Debugw("processing join request", "joinRequest", logger.Proto(joinRequest))
 
+		if joinRequest.ClientInfo == nil {
+			joinRequest.ClientInfo = &livekit.ClientInfo{}
+		}
 		AugmentClientInfo(joinRequest.ClientInfo, r)
 		pi.Client = joinRequest.ClientInfo
 
diff --git a/pkg/service/utils.go b/pkg/service/utils.go
index 52433f329..e129e2f83 100644
--- a/pkg/service/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/service/utils.go
@@ -246,6 +246,10 @@ func getUserAgentParser() *uaparser.Parser {
 }
 
 func AugmentClientInfo(ci *livekit.ClientInfo, req *http.Request) {
+	if ci == nil {
+		return
+	}
+
 	// get real address (forwarded http header) - check Cloudflare headers first, fall back to X-Forwarded-For
 	ci.Address = GetClientIP(req)