diff --git a/be/src/olap/reader.cpp b/be/src/olap/reader.cpp
index ba828b01beea70..ecda9380525ac9 100644
--- a/be/src/olap/reader.cpp
+++ b/be/src/olap/reader.cpp
@@ -412,10 +412,6 @@ Status TabletReader::_init_keys_param(const ReaderParams& read_params) {
 }
 
 Status TabletReader::_init_orderby_keys_param(const ReaderParams& read_params) {
-    if (read_params.start_key.empty()) {
-        return Status::OK();
-    }
-
     // UNIQUE_KEYS will compare all keys as before
     if (_tablet_schema->keys_type() == DUP_KEYS || (_tablet_schema->keys_type() == UNIQUE_KEYS &&
                                                     _tablet->enable_unique_key_merge_on_write())) {
diff --git a/be/src/vec/olap/vcollect_iterator.cpp b/be/src/vec/olap/vcollect_iterator.cpp
index 7231ad1453f3da..714c2ffd99bc07 100644
--- a/be/src/vec/olap/vcollect_iterator.cpp
+++ b/be/src/vec/olap/vcollect_iterator.cpp
@@ -245,6 +245,11 @@ Status VCollectIterator::_topn_next(Block* block) {
     auto cloneBlock = block->clone_empty();
     MutableBlock mutable_block = vectorized::MutableBlock::build_mutable_block(&cloneBlock);
 
+    if (!_reader->_reader_context.read_orderby_key_columns) {
+        return Status::Error<ErrorCode::INTERNAL_ERROR>(
+                "read_orderby_key_columns should not be nullptr");
+    }
+
     size_t first_sort_column_idx = (*_reader->_reader_context.read_orderby_key_columns)[0];
     const std::vector<uint32_t>* sort_columns = _reader->_reader_context.read_orderby_key_columns;