diff --git a/src/controller/sched.c b/src/controller/sched.c
index 13f50ac..ac0b27f 100644
--- a/src/controller/sched.c
+++ b/src/controller/sched.c
@@ -147,6 +147,17 @@ static int xcesched_push_configs(cluster_t* c)
 
     memset(&configdata, 0x0, sizeof(configdata));
 
+    if (c->myconf == NULL || c->myconf->cluster_config == NULL) {
+        /* No cluster config loaded yet (cold boot / config not pushed yet).
+         * Pushing configs now would dereference a NULL cluster_config and
+         * crash the controller (ASan SEGV on scheduler join). Skip; the
+         * scheduler will receive config on a later join once config is
+         * available. */
+        WARN("%s: cluster_config not loaded yet, skipping config push",
+             __func__);
+        return 0;
+    }
+
     configdata.data.conf4sched
         = (xce_conf4sched_t*)calloc(1, sizeof(xce_conf4sched_t));
     if (configdata.data.conf4sched == NULL) {