diff --git a/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/shape_refiner.cc b/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/shape_refiner.cc
index daa9e5091af..828297a1abe 100644
--- a/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/shape_refiner.cc
+++ b/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/shape_refiner.cc
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ Status ShapeRefiner::AddNode(const Node* node) {
   }
 
   // This needs to be filled in with real data in a second pass.
-  std::vector<const Tensor*> input_tensors(node->num_inputs());
+  std::vector<const Tensor*> input_tensors(node->num_inputs(), nullptr);
   std::vector<ShapeHandle> input_tensors_as_shapes;
 
   // Create the inference context for this node with the existing input shapes.
@@ -145,6 +145,9 @@ Status ShapeRefiner::UpdateNode(const Node* node, bool* refined) {
   }
   InferenceContext* node_context = it->second.get();
 
+  // Give up if the context wasn't successfully built by the AddNode() method.
+  TF_RETURN_IF_ERROR(node_context->construction_status());
+
   // Check if the shapes of the nodes in the fan-in of this node have changed,
   // and if they have update the node input shapes.
   for (const Edge* e : node->in_edges()) {
@@ -458,7 +461,7 @@ Status ShapeRefiner::RunShapeFn(const Node* node,
                                 const OpRegistrationData* op_reg_data,
                                 shape_inference::InferenceContext* c) {
   // This will be filled in with real data in a second pass.
-  std::vector<const Tensor*> input_tensors(node->num_inputs());
+  std::vector<const Tensor*> input_tensors(node->num_inputs(), nullptr);
   std::vector<Tensor> real_tensors(node->num_inputs());
   std::vector<bool> attempted_materialization(node->num_inputs());
   std::vector<bool> attempted_tensor_as_shape_conversion(node->num_inputs());