From c71bbb1c107390f9310ff1ff679632e568416776 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Andrei Holub <andrei.holub@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 13:45:17 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] emu/debug/debugcpu.cpp,sinclair/spectrum.cpp: Guarded pointer
 accessors

---
 src/emu/debug/debugcpu.cpp | 7 ++++++-
 src/emu/debug/debugcpu.h   | 2 +-
 2 files changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/emu/debug/debugcpu.cpp b/src/emu/debug/debugcpu.cpp
index de41e4b3c..0e35cb59a 100644
--- a/src/emu/debug/debugcpu.cpp
+++ b/src/emu/debug/debugcpu.cpp
@@ -575,7 +575,7 @@ device_debug::device_debug(device_t &device)
 		}
 
 		// Use own table for CPU and the global for others
-		symbol_table *symtable = m_symtable != nullptr ? m_symtable.get() : &device.machine().debugger().cpu().global_symtable();
+		symbol_table *symtable = &this->symtable();
 
 		// add all registers into it
 		for (const auto &entry : m_state->state_entries())
@@ -623,6 +623,11 @@ device_debug::~device_debug()
 	exceptionpoint_clear_all();
 }
 
+symbol_table &device_debug::symtable()
+{
+	return m_symtable != nullptr ? *m_symtable : m_device.machine().debugger().cpu().global_symtable();
+}
+
 void device_debug::write_tracking(address_space &space, offs_t address, u64 data)
 {
 	dasm_memory_access const newAccess(space.spacenum(), address, data, m_state->pcbase());
diff --git a/src/emu/debug/debugcpu.h b/src/emu/debug/debugcpu.h
index 631d4c788..3bd246dde 100644
--- a/src/emu/debug/debugcpu.h
+++ b/src/emu/debug/debugcpu.h
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ public:
 	~device_debug();
 
 	// getters
-	symbol_table &symtable() { return *m_symtable; }
+	symbol_table &symtable();
 
 	// commonly-used pass-throughs
 	int logaddrchars() const { return (m_memory != nullptr && m_memory->has_space(AS_PROGRAM)) ? m_memory->space(AS_PROGRAM).logaddrchars() : 8; }