diff --git a/src/enzyme_ad/jax/Passes/LLVMToAffineAccess.cpp b/src/enzyme_ad/jax/Passes/LLVMToAffineAccess.cpp
index 9f21402779..eaf4ca2cea 100644
--- a/src/enzyme_ad/jax/Passes/LLVMToAffineAccess.cpp
+++ b/src/enzyme_ad/jax/Passes/LLVMToAffineAccess.cpp
@@ -846,6 +846,56 @@ struct AffineIfDeadResults : public OpRewritePattern<affine::AffineIfOp> {
   }
 };
 
+// An access through a view of the null pointer can only execute as
+// undefined behavior, so it is dynamically dead: an optional buffer a kernel
+// receives as null is always guarded by a flag. Fold loads to a zero of the
+// element type and drop stores; the views and the captured null then die,
+// instead of blocking the kernel on an untypable operand.
+struct NullAccessFold : public OpRewritePattern<enzymexla::Pointer2MemrefOp> {
+  using OpRewritePattern::OpRewritePattern;
+
+  LogicalResult matchAndRewrite(enzymexla::Pointer2MemrefOp p2m,
+                                PatternRewriter &rewriter) const override {
+    Value src = p2m.getSource();
+    while (auto asc = src.getDefiningOp<LLVM::AddrSpaceCastOp>())
+      src = asc.getArg();
+    if (!src.getDefiningOp<LLVM::ZeroOp>())
+      return failure();
+    bool changed = false;
+    for (Operation *user : llvm::make_early_inc_range(p2m->getUsers())) {
+      auto zeroFor = [&](Operation *ld, Type t) {
+        rewriter.setInsertionPoint(ld);
+        // getZeroAttr has no answer for pointers; those zero as llvm null.
+        if (t.isIntOrFloat()) {
+          rewriter.replaceOpWithNewOp<arith::ConstantOp>(
+              ld, t, rewriter.getZeroAttr(t));
+          return true;
+        }
+        if (isa<LLVM::LLVMPointerType>(t)) {
+          rewriter.replaceOpWithNewOp<LLVM::ZeroOp>(ld, t);
+          return true;
+        }
+        return false;
+      };
+      if (auto ld = dyn_cast<affine::AffineLoadOp>(user)) {
+        changed |= zeroFor(ld, ld.getType());
+      } else if (auto ld = dyn_cast<memref::LoadOp>(user)) {
+        changed |= zeroFor(ld, ld.getType());
+      } else if (isa<affine::AffineStoreOp, memref::StoreOp>(user) &&
+                 user->getOperand(1) == p2m.getResult() &&
+                 user->getOperand(0) != p2m.getResult()) {
+        rewriter.eraseOp(user);
+        changed = true;
+      }
+    }
+    if (p2m->use_empty()) {
+      rewriter.eraseOp(p2m);
+      changed = true;
+    }
+    return success(changed);
+  }
+};
+
 struct LoadSelect : public OpRewritePattern<affine::AffineLoadOp> {
   using OpRewritePattern::OpRewritePattern;
 
@@ -2179,7 +2229,8 @@ convertLLVMToAffineAccess(Operation *op,
         SimplifyDeadAlloc<memref::AllocaOp>, SimplifyDeadAlloc<memref::AllocOp>,
         SimplifyDeadAlloc<LLVM::AllocaOp>,
         SimplifyDeadAlloc<gpu::AllocOp, true>, Pointer2MemrefSelect, LoadSelect,
-        AffineIfDeadResults, SimpleMem2Reg<memref::AllocaOp>>(context);
+        NullAccessFold, AffineIfDeadResults, SimpleMem2Reg<memref::AllocaOp>>(
+        context);
     GreedyRewriteConfig config;
     config.setRegionSimplificationLevel(GreedySimplifyRegionLevel::Normal);
     config.enableFolding();
diff --git a/test/lit_tests/null_access_fold.mlir b/test/lit_tests/null_access_fold.mlir
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4426ff1dd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/lit_tests/null_access_fold.mlir
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+// RUN: enzymexlamlir-opt %s --llvm-to-affine-access | FileCheck %s
+
+// An optional buffer arriving as null: its accesses sit behind a runtime
+// flag, so they can only execute as undefined behavior. Loads fold to zero,
+// stores drop, and the null views disappear.
+module {
+  func.func @optional(%out: memref<?xf64>, %flag: i1, %v: f64) {
+    %null = llvm.mlir.zero : !llvm.ptr
+    %fview = "enzymexla.pointer2memref"(%null) : (!llvm.ptr) -> memref<?xf64>
+    %iview = "enzymexla.pointer2memref"(%null) : (!llvm.ptr) -> memref<?xi32>
+    scf.if %flag {
+      %m = affine.load %fview[3] : memref<?xf64>
+      %i = affine.load %iview[1] : memref<?xi32>
+      %fi = arith.sitofp %i : i32 to f64
+      %s = arith.addf %m, %fi : f64
+      affine.store %s, %out[0] : memref<?xf64>
+      affine.store %v, %fview[2] : memref<?xf64>
+    }
+    return
+  }
+}
+
+// CHECK-LABEL: func.func @optional(
+// CHECK-SAME: %[[OUT:.+]]: memref<?xf64>, %[[FLAG:.+]]: i1, %[[V:.+]]: f64
+// CHECK-DAG: %[[FZ:.+]] = arith.constant 0.000000e+00 : f64
+// CHECK-NOT: llvm.mlir.zero
+// CHECK-NOT: pointer2memref
+// CHECK: scf.if %[[FLAG]] {
+// CHECK-NEXT: affine.store %[[FZ]], %[[OUT]][0] : memref<?xf64>
+// CHECK-NEXT: }
+// CHECK-NEXT: return
+
+// A pointer loaded from a null view has no arith zero attribute; it folds to
+// llvm null instead.
+// CHECK-LABEL: func.func @optionalptr(
+// CHECK: llvm.mlir.zero
+// CHECK-NOT: arith.constant {{.*}} !llvm.ptr
+func.func @optionalptr(%flag: i1) -> !llvm.ptr {
+  %null = llvm.mlir.zero : !llvm.ptr
+  %view = "enzymexla.pointer2memref"(%null) : (!llvm.ptr) -> memref<?x!llvm.ptr>
+  %p = affine.load %view[3] : memref<?x!llvm.ptr>
+  return %p : !llvm.ptr
+}