https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=79572
--- Comment #8 from Richard Biener <rguenth at gcc dot gnu.org> --- Btw, clang behaves the same: > clang++ t.C -O2 t.C:4:12: warning: reference cannot be bound to dereferenced null pointer in well-defined C++ code; pointer may be assumed to always convert to true [-Wundefined-bool-conversion] if (&iref) ~~ ^~~~ 1 warning generated. rguenther@e111:/tmp> ./a.out Segmentation fault (core dumped) and it doesn't diagnose *NULL either.