diff --git a/src/pl/plperl/plperl.c b/src/pl/plperl/plperl.c
index 81d9c46e00..3f221ee01b 100644
--- a/src/pl/plperl/plperl.c
+++ b/src/pl/plperl/plperl.c
@@ -3097,6 +3097,21 @@ check_spi_usage_allowed(void)
 		/* simple croak as we don't want to involve PostgreSQL code */
 		croak("SPI functions can not be used in END blocks");
 	}
+
+	/*
+	 * Disallow SPI usage if we're not executing a fully-compiled plperl
+	 * function.  It might seem impossible to get here in that case, but there
+	 * are cases where Perl will try to execute code during compilation.  If
+	 * we proceed we are likely to crash trying to dereference the prodesc
+	 * pointer.  Working around that might be possible, but it seems unwise
+	 * because it'd allow code execution to happen while validating a
+	 * function, which is undesirable.
+	 */
+	if (current_call_data == NULL || current_call_data->prodesc == NULL)
+	{
+		/* simple croak as we don't want to involve PostgreSQL code */
+		croak("SPI functions can not be used during function compilation");
+	}
 }
 
 
@@ -3961,6 +3976,8 @@ plperl_spi_commit(void)
 {
 	MemoryContext oldcontext = CurrentMemoryContext;
 
+	check_spi_usage_allowed();
+
 	PG_TRY();
 	{
 		SPI_commit();
@@ -3986,6 +4003,8 @@ plperl_spi_rollback(void)
 {
 	MemoryContext oldcontext = CurrentMemoryContext;
 
+	check_spi_usage_allowed();
+
 	PG_TRY();
 	{
 		SPI_rollback();