diff --git a/iseq.c b/iseq.c
index f2a2bdedda..b16369e420 100644
--- a/iseq.c
+++ b/iseq.c
@@ -126,6 +126,14 @@ remove_from_constant_cache(ID id, IC ic)
 static void
 iseq_clear_ic_references(const rb_iseq_t *iseq)
 {
+    // In some cases (when there is a compilation error), we end up with
+    // ic_size greater than 0, but no allocated is_entries buffer.
+    // If there's no is_entries buffer to loop through, return early.
+    // [Bug #19173]
+    if (!ISEQ_BODY(iseq)->is_entries) {
+        return;
+    }
+
     for (unsigned int ic_idx = 0; ic_idx < ISEQ_BODY(iseq)->ic_size; ic_idx++) {
         IC ic = &ISEQ_IS_IC_ENTRY(ISEQ_BODY(iseq), ic_idx);
 
diff --git a/test/ruby/test_iseq.rb b/test/ruby/test_iseq.rb
index 2a18ff02e1..563aeeeaea 100644
--- a/test/ruby/test_iseq.rb
+++ b/test/ruby/test_iseq.rb
@@ -355,6 +355,13 @@ class TestISeq < Test::Unit::TestCase
     end
   end
 
+  # [Bug #19173]
+  def test_compile_error
+    assert_raise SyntaxError do
+      RubyVM::InstructionSequence.compile 'using Module.new; yield'
+    end
+  end
+
   def test_compile_file_error
     Tempfile.create(%w"test_iseq .rb") do |f|
       f.puts "end"