diff --git a/src/detect-engine-alert.c b/src/detect-engine-alert.c
index 98fe24c2dc..359c224de9 100644
--- a/src/detect-engine-alert.c
+++ b/src/detect-engine-alert.c
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ void AlertQueueAppend(DetectEngineThreadCtx *det_ctx, const Signature *s, Packet
         /* we must grow the alert queue */
         if (pos == AlertQueueExpand(det_ctx)) {
             /* this means we failed to expand the queue */
-            det_ctx->p->alerts.discarded++;
+            p->alerts.discarded++;
             return;
         }
     }