diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3ec5ccb8..588adf0c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -180,6 +180,8 @@
 * Memory leak caused by custom box drawing glyphs not being completely
   freed when destroying a foot window instance
   (https://codeberg.org/dnkl/foot/issues/586).
+* Crash in scrollback search when current XKB layout is missing
+  _compose_ definitions.
 
 
 ### Security
diff --git a/search.c b/search.c
index 3d1ace4b..9fc1ab2a 100644
--- a/search.c
+++ b/search.c
@@ -798,8 +798,9 @@ search_input(struct seat *seat, struct terminal *term, uint32_t key,
 {
     LOG_DBG("search: input: sym=%d/0x%x, mods=0x%08x", sym, sym, mods);
 
-    enum xkb_compose_status compose_status = xkb_compose_state_get_status(
-        seat->kbd.xkb_compose_state);
+    enum xkb_compose_status compose_status = seat->kbd.xkb_compose_state != NULL
+      ? xkb_compose_state_get_status(seat->kbd.xkb_compose_state)
+      : XKB_COMPOSE_NOTHING;
 
     bool update_search_result = false;
     bool redraw = false;