pdf14_create_clist_device(gs_memory_t *mem, gs_gstate * pgs,
                                gx_device ** ppdev, gx_device * target,
                                const gs_pdf14trans_t * pdf14pct)
{
    pdf14_clist_device * dev_proto;
    pdf14_clist_device * pdev, temp_dev_proto;
    int code;
    bool has_tags = target->graphics_type_tag & GS_DEVICE_ENCODES_TAGS;
    cmm_profile_t *target_profile;
    gsicc_rendering_param_t render_cond;
    cmm_dev_profile_t *dev_profile;
    uchar k;

    code = dev_proc(target, get_profile)(target,  &dev_profile);
    if (code < 0)
        return code;
    gsicc_extract_profile(GS_UNKNOWN_TAG, dev_profile, &target_profile,
                          &render_cond);
    if_debug0m('v', pgs->memory, "[v]pdf14_create_clist_device\n");
    code = get_pdf14_clist_device_proto(target, &dev_proto,
                                 &temp_dev_proto, pgs, pdf14pct, false);
    if (code < 0)
        return code;
    code = gs_copydevice((gx_device **) &pdev,
                         (const gx_device *) dev_proto, mem);
    if (code < 0)
        return code;
    /* The number of color planes should not exceed that of the target */
    if (pdev->color_info.num_components > target->color_info.num_components)
        pdev->color_info.num_components = target->color_info.num_components;
    if (pdev->color_info.max_components > target->color_info.max_components)
        pdev->color_info.max_components = target->color_info.max_components;
    pdev->color_info.depth = pdev->color_info.num_components * 8;
    pdev->pad = target->pad;
    pdev->log2_align_mod = target->log2_align_mod;
    pdev->is_planar = target->is_planar;
    /* If we have a tag device then go ahead and do a special encoder decoder
       for the pdf14 device to make sure we maintain this information in the
       encoded color information.  We could use the target device's methods but
       the PDF14 device has to maintain 8 bit color always and we could run
       into other issues if the number of colorants became large.  If we need to
       do compressed color with tags that will be a special project at that time */
    if (has_tags) {
        pdev->procs.encode_color = pdf14_encode_color_tag;
        pdev->color_info.depth += 8;
    }
    check_device_separable((gx_device *)pdev);
    gx_device_fill_in_procs((gx_device *)pdev);
    gs_pdf14_device_copy_params((gx_device *)pdev, target);
    gx_device_set_target((gx_device_forward *)pdev, target);
    /* Components shift, etc have to be based upon 8 bit */
    for (k = 0; k < pdev->color_info.num_components; k++) {
        pdev->color_info.comp_bits[k] = 8;
        pdev->color_info.comp_shift[k] = (pdev->color_info.num_components - 1 - k) * 8;
    }
    code = dev_proc((gx_device *) pdev, open_device) ((gx_device *) pdev);
    pdev->pclist_device = target;
    /* If the target profile was CIELAB, then overide with default RGB for
       proper blending.  During put_image we will convert from RGB to
       CIELAB */
    if ((target_profile->data_cs == gsCIELAB || target_profile->islab) &&
        !pdev->using_blend_cs) {
        rc_assign(pdev->icc_struct->device_profile[0],
                  pgs->icc_manager->default_rgb, "pdf14_create_clist_device");
    }
    pdev->my_encode_color = pdev->procs.encode_color;
    pdev->my_decode_color = pdev->procs.decode_color;
    pdev->my_get_color_mapping_procs = pdev->procs.get_color_mapping_procs;
    pdev->my_get_color_comp_index = pdev->procs.get_color_comp_index;
    pdev->color_info.separable_and_linear =
        target->color_info.separable_and_linear;
    *ppdev = (gx_device *) pdev;
    return code;
}

The product dereferences a pointer that it expects to be valid but is NULL.